Do you notice what’s the impact of your state on your life? How does your state influence what you are creating? How does it affect your relationships?
Our reality reflects how we perceive the world and the perception is influenced by our thoughts and emotions = our mental and emotional state.
I experienced how much are my mental and emotional state influencing my performance. I was surprised by the huge difference between two outcomes of similar situations of a creative process.
Basically, when I’m not that balanced, and I’m getting disturbing thoughts during the situation which means I’m not 100% present. I can see it in a result so that I have to rework it, spend more time with it and the overall feeling about the process it not that good, it’s not flowing.
On the other hand, when I’m balanced and present, meaning there are no disturbing thoughts coming to my mind while creating, the process just flows, I’m totally happy about the outcome.
Once I became aware of this while creating, I realised that it works in all areas of my life. And it works all the time.
I can notice it the most when I’m with other people because they are offering me an instant feedback. It’s like a mirror. When I’m not balanced and present, the communication is not flowing.
Yes, it’s normal to get disturbing thoughts but it has an impact on whatever we do at the moment while we are not fully present. We can’t offer our best while not being 100% present, can we?
There is a strong correlation between being balanced and present
Unbalanced means:
- Feeling emotions which are taking your attention away from what you are doing e.g. anger, strong excitement, etc.
- Thoughts coming back to you all the time so that you can’t concentrate.
- You are not feeling well physically.
However, once you are physically, mentally and emotionally balanced. There are no sensations, thoughts and feelings disturbing you from being present.
Balancing your state physically, mentally and emotionally is one side of the coin. The other side is about training your mind to be present despite the fact something is going on.
Why do I want to work on being present?
When we are present in day-to-day situations, we are getting much more from life! Living on autopilot is not living.
Are you fully listening while communicating with your closest people? Or are you thinking of what you are about to say once they finish?
If you answered yes to the second question, don’t worry. It’s normal as well as it’s normal to watch TV, scroll on social media, etc. They are activities which train our minds to change focus from one thing to another all the time.
Even though it’s normal to not to be present, it’s beneficial for everyone to BE PRESENT, and for example to wholly listen to what people are telling us. Why? 😊
I offer you two simple reasons.
1) We are social beings, we learn and get inspired from experiences of others and we influence each other. In order to completely understand the other person’s perspective, we need to entirely listen to them.
2) It’s good for deepening relationships. Obviously, you can’t read someone else’s thoughts but when you pay attention, you know if the person is perfectly present or not.
Imagine you are explaining something to a friend and he would be reading something on a phone. Would you continue? What’s the difference between that and someone being busy with lots of thoughts? The fact we can’t see it doesn’t mean we don’t know it on a subconscious level. It’s the feeling you get and can’t verbally describe, you just know it.
PRACTICAL TIPS: What can I do to be more balanced and present?
As written above, there are two strategies to let go of what takes you from the present moment: staying balanced and training your mind to be focused.
1) STAYING BALANCED
Physical sensations, thoughts and emotions can be taking us from the present moment. How to deal with them?
Physical sensations: keep yourself fit and healthy. Make sure you sleep and eat well, exercise, do some yoga, etc. Find out what works for your body and what does not. Do you feel good after the breakfast/lunch/dinner you just ate? If not, what can you change?
Emotions: Sometimes I get feelings which are coming back repeatedly and it’s hard for me to let them go. I used to try to ignore the “bad” feelings as I didn’t know what to do with them. However, it creates numbness, as a result, you are not sensitive to other feelings neither.
There is a great practice which helps me to let go of a certain feeling, it’s called Feel the Feeling, it’s like a magic, when you allow yourself to feel the feeling, it disappears. It’s because you are not “postponing” to feel it anymore, you decide to experience it fully, give it space and then it’s gone.
Repetitive thoughts: The question is why are these thoughts coming back to you? Are there some actions required in order to let go of them?
My favourite practice to sort out my thoughts is journaling, I always write down everything what’s going on in my mind until I find the best next step I can do and no thoughts are coming up anymore. I write to the point it’s a peaceful silence between my ears.
Staying balanced is not just about big actions time to time. It’s about the little things you do every single day. Being two months uncentered and unstable, and then two days before an important meeting wanting to “zen” yourself doesn’t work the best.
2) TRAINING YOUR MIND TO BE FOCUSED
The second strategy is to train your mind to be 100% focused on whatever you want. It takes practice, it’s like training a muscle to move a certain way while starting a new sport.
Two simple practices to train your mind you can do right now:
Breath Awareness
The breath is happening now, it means that when you are observing your breath, you are present. Focus on the flow of the air in your nostrils, feel the sensations, notice the temperature of the air. Set a timer for 2-5 minutes and observe the flow of your breath. It trains the mind to be present and focused.
Observing a subject for one minute
Find a subject close to you, it can be even a black dot on a wall, and concentrate all your attention on this subject for one minute. Set a timer and observe if you can be present just for one minute. 😊
Takeaways:
- Start to notice how is your physical, mental and emotional state influencing your reality.
- What is disturbing you from being present the most? Start to work on this area.
- Train your mind to be focused.
- Take it easy.
- Enjoy the process.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts. Let me know what’s your experience in this topic in the comments. 👇
Have a beautiful day!!
Michaela
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