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Episode 08: Life in the Present Moment

Being and Doing. Do you think of these as separate states, mutually exclusive or even in conflict with one another? In this episode of Life is the Practice I am breaking down what it looks like to weave presence into our everyday lives. In the car. At the dinner table. Standing in line at the grocery store. There are simple ways to bring mindfulness and – when our minds stray – to guide ourselves back. In the present moment, we cultivate awareness and peace. The alternative? Letting our minds wander to random thoughts – which often deliver feelings of anxiety and fear about the future or regret about the past. We are exploring in this episode the possibility of using meditation to cultivate presence, inner presence, and alignment while also functioning, as most of us must, among the noisy realities, goals, and obstacles of everyday life. You will come away with resources to get started understanding how and when to integrate present moment consciousness – and why this is to our benefit, individually and globally. 

Are you longing to live in a place of inner peace, abundance, and confidence? Had enough of self-doubt, fear, and a nagging scarcity mindset? Then I invite you to explore my online course. It integrates all the teachings I use in my 1:1 coaching practice and the wisdom I’ve acquired over 25 years of mindfulness and research. Welcome!

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The Famous Here & Now: Being present means holding attention to the experience of the present moment instead of losing it in thought.
• Spontaneous Thought: When our minds roam freely without consciousness, we are prone to feel anxiety and fear about the future or regret about the past.
• Staying Focused: Living in the present means letting go of repetitive thoughts that are pointless and deplete our energy.
• Mind Chatter: Unchecked mental noise deprives us of the gifts staying present brings.
• Conscious Time Management: How to reconcile living life in the present moment with the reality of day-to-day expectations, goals and plans.
• A Reminder: The Practice requires action. Without taking steps, concepts of mind management remain abstract and ineffective.
• Fundamental Approaches: Meditations for presence, inner presence and alignment. 
• Myth Busting: Staying present doesn’t require being in a state of motionless awareness or perfect stillness. Our essential being does not disappear when we are active.
• Because most of us aren’t able or don’t wish to live on a mountaintop in silent contemplation, the challenge is to integrate a sense of being throughout our daily lives.
• Meditation is a gift that we can give to ourselves – and to the world!

QUOTABLE:

• “If we think in concrete terms about the concept of living in the present, the truth is that it doesn’t make much sense. It might even seem absurd when we think about it:”

• “Very often, without our permission, the mind takes us out of the present moment and into the fantasy of thought in a place and a time that doesn’t exist.” 

• “Life is what’s happening in this moment, here and now. Everything else is a thought about life – a mental process through which we ruminate about our vital situation.” 

• “A conscious person develops the ability to permanently observe as an impersonal witnesses to our mental and emotional processes … The mind no longer dominates experiences.” 

• “Many people do not understand that the awareness of being and doing are not mutually exclusive. They think that in order to be dissolved in the essential identity they have to stop doing things and be passive. This is not true.” 

• “Being encompasses everything and our ability to observe the essential being in movement is something also developed with a practice of active observation.”

FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Episode 3, which focuses on cultivating presence, is available here.
• More about Juan’s online course, The Practice, can be found at this link.

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