It is no small task to be present or mindful, particularly in today’s environment filled with uncertainty and a feeling of groundlessness. If the concept is new to you, then I applaud you for even reading this post. You have an interest and that is the perfect place to start. I like to explain it as if I was teaching someone to read, swing a tennis racket or plant a vegetable garden. Repeat and repeat, feel it in your body and watch it grow. It’s best to take it slow with the understanding that there will likely be days when things don’t go as planned and more importantly, the more we do it, the more familiar it becomes.
Being present means having the ability to hold the mind steady without thinking other thoughts that compete with where we currently are. Ram Dass said it much better: Be Here Now. While this seems easy in concept, many of our minds are not too keen on this choice, particularly if they aren’t used to it. Our minds like to be very busy planning, reminiscing, wanting, not wanting, fearing, worrying, etc. Our minds become very good (some are professionals, like mine) at juggling multiple thoughts that often don’t even pertain to what we are actually doing. In Buddhism, these varying states of mind (typically thought of as negative) are called Kleshas and are believed to be what causes our suffering as human beings. When we work to be present, we notice when the mind has gotten carried away leading us into stories that aren’t serving us, and we learn to return back to a more concentrated mental state. When we learn to notice our thinking mind “running the show” and leading us into negative thoughts and actions, we can ask ourselves: Is there truth in these thoughts? Are these thoughts serving me? Do they have anything to do with what I’m doing now? The more we practice this, the better we become at residing in the present moment and feeling a sense of freedom from our over-thinking minds. Meditation is a formal way of helping us strengthen our ability to be present. So we practice and practice and practice.
