How are you doing? Right now, in this moment?
Did you make yourself comfortable for reading this blog?
Do you want to take a minute to make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, or a hot chocolate?
Don’t forget: It is you who decides how you treat yourself!
And right now, this is a time when I want you to treat yourself well. :-)
Let’ first begin by understanding the word “mindfulness” a bit better.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is when we are consciously present in the current moment. Without drifting off with our thoughts into the future or the past. When we are mindful, our full attention in bundled in the current “here and now.” We simply take in, consciously and attentively, what’s going on in this moment. How? Through all our senses. We notice each moment with our physical sensations – for example, do we feel warmth or coldness, tension or relaxation, strength or weakness? We can also get in touch with our mind – for example, by noticing how many or few thoughts are crossing our brain, what our emotional state is, and so on. When we’re mindful, we also pay attention to what’s happening in our surroundings – and the extent to which we allow ourselves to get involved.
Where are we when we’re not in the present moment?
We anchor ourselves in the “here and now” with all our senses – by being attentive to what we see, smell, hear, taste and touch. In other words, the “here and now” is always accessible through the sensations we experience in our body. Without our senses, each moment would just pass by us and remain unnoticed.
We can only live consciously through our senses – by being attentive to them at each moment.
When we drift off, away from the present moment, we either spend our time in the future or in the past.
Our “Mind-traveling”
When our mind travels to the future, we commonly ponder upon hypothetical scenarios, draft to-do lists, or torture ourselves with anxieties about potential future events. In other words, while our body is (as it is always!) naturally present in the “here and now”, our mind wanders off into a futuristic fantasy world. It is important to understand that in this state, where our mind and body are separated, what we see is merely science fiction taking place in our head. It is our creative mind unleashing its imagination, nothing more. Any emotions that we may be feeling in these fantasy states are merely reactions of our body and psyche to the imagined scenarios that are happening in our mind. At this point, neither our body nor our psyche can differentiate between fiction and reality. This is why our emotions feel so real in such moments! But they pass as quickly as they come – as soon as our imagination ends, the emotions disappear as well. They are not real events in the “here and now.”
A second destination we commonly flee to when our mind wanders off is the past. The same pattern happens here: We remember what happened in the past, which was at some point real to us. But now, it is just a memory. While our body is here in the present moment, our mind lingers in the past, where it finds images that trick us into believing that they are real at this moment. Sometimes, we even remember physical sensations from the past, which makes them feel even more real! We might even recall sounds, although none of them are actually here in the presence. The images and even our emotions can feel very real when our mind lingers in the past. But again, these are merely memories. An activity of our mind! They are not real in the “here and now.” They are merely reactions to our mind’s imagination, and they disappear as soon as our mind-travel ends.
The “here and now” is the only time and place where our body and mind can be present together.
This current moment is a short-lived state that passes quickly. It changes permanently and constantly delivers us new impressions! This is why living in the presence is such an intense, stimulating experience.
Our Anchor in the “Hear and Now”
We cannot prevent drifting off into the future and past at all times. That would not be an appropriate goal, because sometimes we have to! For example, for getting ourselves organized for the coming day. The balance is the trick. The key is not to get trapped in the future or the past. The MBSR practice teaches us skills that will help us return to the “here and now” whenever and however quickly we want. So that we can be present in our lives. Because the “here and now” moment is the only place and time where we actually live – the only place where we can actively create our life. Everything else is mere imagination: A dream or a memory. When we linger in these imaginative conditions, we miss out on our actual lifetime. And we don’t want to be trapped there for too long, while our live takes place here.
The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program by Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches us ways to consciously recognize the place our mind is currently in – whether it is in the future, past or presence. It teaches us skills we can use not to drift off into the future or past for too long. And the skills help us not to feel compelled to misinterpret them as reality. They help us recognize that our mind’s stories are merely moments in our imagination. Like daydreams! Even if they appear to be real and alive. We can’t live our life while we are mind-traveling in the future or the past. We can only create our life in the present “here and now.”
Connecting with the “Here and Now”
How do we connect with the “here and now”? It’s very simple! The only access to the present moment is through our senses. By being attentive to them, our senses anchor us in the “here and now”. They are our tool to bring us back into the present moment if we notice our mind drifting off. They help us unite our body with our mind again.
To get better at this, we strengthen our connection between our consciousness and our physical senses via mindfulness training. Mindfulness training uses focusing exercises like, for example, the body scan, breathing meditation, walking meditation, and several others. These exercises help us become more attentive to what is currently happening here and now, in this current moment. We train ourselves to be awake and conscious of where we currently are with our attentiveness – particularly with respect to our contact with our physical senses. This way, we reunite our mind and body.
Challengers to a Mindful Life
Of course, we are permanently distracted by our thoughts and many stimulations in our environment. But these distractions give us a wonderful opportunity to train our mindfulness! The more often we connect with our senses to return to the present moment, the more often we practice our mindfulness skills. As a result of this dynamic training, we will harvest cognitive strength, composure and inner peace. We will learn to rest in our authentic and genuine self all day long, instead of intermittently forcing ourselves into temporary relaxation modes. Being centered, i.e. consistently trying to live in the present moment, also helps us respond appropriately to the permanently changing situations around us. “Appropriately” meaning, not to turn a situation into more or less than it is – not downplaying or dramatizing it. We simply balance ourselves.
Why practice Mindfulness?
When we practice mindfulness, our body generates fewer stress hormones in our blood than when we entrap our mind into endless brooding loops, aggress against others or escape into flight mode. We are more relaxed just by remaining balanced and anchored in the “here and now.” At some point, this practice becomes a natural routine for us, just like when we walk the stairs or brush our teeth without thinking about the how-to anymore. That’s the objective of the MBSR program – to find a constructive and healing way of living our daily lives in our hectic, often distressing environment. Where our senses tell and teach us how to react appropriately in any given situation we find ourselves in, without running away in fear or becoming overly aggressive. Instead of reacting like we used to, we now turn inward to take care of ourselves. We remain anchored in the “here and now” and treat ourselves kindly therein. Which, in turn, will prevent pain and burdensome suffering in our lives.
A good first exercise to anchor ourselves in the “here and now” is the Raisin Meditation. It is an intense experience – of course, your everyday food consumption will not always take that long! This exercise is just a way to teach you how intensely and yet quickly your senses can anchor you in the “here and now.” And it teaches your body a new way of sensing things that you can then apply to many other situations in your life, once you’ve experienced it. When you repeat this short exercise along with the other meditations I will put together for you in this self-learning program during the next few days, then your body will learn how to anchor yourself and remain in the present moment. And you will benefit from your genuine connectedness with your authentic self! You will notice that you will less frequently fall into destructive drama or fight-or-flight reactions anymore while mind-wandering into the future or the past. You will remain centered and well.
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— Annegret Hannawa