How do I remember to pause and be present?

By Maurice Denis

Being present is a lifelong practice. Pausing and being present is a way to wipe the slate clean and restart your day. It’s a way to refresh and reboot. There are several ways to bring yourself back to the moment, focus on the ones that speak to you.  Here are a few…

First things first: you must realize that the majority of the time we are not present.  If you think you are, guess again.  Studies have shown that every seven seconds random thoughts pop in and out of our heads, which translates to 7 or 8 interruptions and loss of focus every minute of your day.  Imagine how much time is wasted, how much production is loss and how the quality of our work suffers.

What if we instead did everything with profound attention?  What would the results be?

So where are we, when we’re not present? You can only be in one of three places: in the present, in the past or in the future. The majority of us are usually thinking about things in the past we could have improved on, things we may have not cherished or even neglected.  If were not in the past we are in the future, we forecast and project what we wish our lives would be or how things in the future will be better than they are right now (and that is if your optimistic)!  Mostly we forecast tragic results for ourselves in the future. We see ourselves failing in our relationships, messing up presentations at work, not meeting financial obligations, or saying the wrong things. Rarely are we in the present, right here right now. Our thoughts are directed by our fears and insecurities.  The principal cause of distraction that steals our ability to be profoundly in the present, are our fears and insecurities. We are so intoxicated with ourselves that we miss the moment in front of us.  We listen to the voice in our heads constantly exaggerating our fears and creating anxiety robbing us of the gift of the present.

The second step: is to realize when you’re not in the moment. This as we just discussed is the majority of the time. Create cues and reminders that bring you back to the present.  For example, focus on your breathing.  Every time you bring your breath to mind you bring yourself right into the present.  You don’t breathe in the past or in the future… you can only breathe right now. Ask yourself one simple question when you catch yourself not being present.  Where did the thing that was occupying my mind live? Did it live in the present? Was it right in front of me?  Here are some things you can do that may help you remember to pause and be present:
•     Focus on your breathing
•     Ask yourself where does this thought or emotion live? In the past, future or present.
•    Create a positive affirmation
•    Focus on the other person, try to be less interesting and more interested in the other person
•    Make eye contact
•    Become a great listener
•    Surround yourself with a vibrant, aware and present community
•    Ask how you can be of service to your immediate community
•    Slow down, meditate daily AM and PM
•    Create order in your life, the proper systems and processes that make life easier
•    Bring to mind the things you are grateful for
•    Practice, Practice and more Practice!

And remember:

“The master is the one who knows he will always be a student”
Buddhist Monk

Please feel free to share your experiences with being present and LEAVE A COMMENT!

Maurice Denis was a recent participant in the Desiderata Project, hosted by Bob Clubbs on his blog “Every, Every Minute.”

Each participant was given a section of Desiderata to focus on and share their own experience or thoughts…Here’s what Maurice was given and how he laid it out…

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.

The three Phrases that changed my relationship with money forever:

The person who said money can’t make you happy, never had any money. I heard a man say that to my father and I never forgot it. I grew up most of my life not having and mostly wanting. At young age my life became an endless stream of desiring the things I thought I would never have. As early as I can remember I searched for ways to make money, to better myself and live a different life. I went from lemonade stand to Amway before I was in middle school. By the time I was in high school I had already started paper trading stocks. I majored in finance in college and became a stockbroker trainee a month after graduation. The chase was on… all the things I never had I was determined to acquire. I bought a house and a new car, I thought I had arrived. Then one day I stopped long enough to stop letting my fears create my reality. I realized I had everything I had ever wanted and I felt incomplete, still wanting, and still desiring. I knew at that moment that I needed to stop wanting, to stop desiring and start living. I grew up thinking that once I made a certain amount of money, I would be happy.

John Lennon, said “life is what happens when your making other plans.” I spent so much of my life waiting until I had enough money and then I would… Once I had a thousand dollars, once I had ten thousand dollars. I would wait for the fifteenth and thirtieth to value my worth. I was in a constant state of wanting.

This brings me to the second phrase: It’s not how much you make it’s how much you spend…

Don’t let your possessions own you, own your possessions.

I was living my life accumulating things that were contributing to the anxiety and fear that I had around money. The more I made the more I spent. I was chasing my tail. The car I drove and the clothes I wore were all an attempt to become something I thought I couldn’t be without money. Be true to yourself, pursue your passions and the money will come. The more you do what you like the better you become at it. The better you become at it the more you do it… one day you will make a living doing what you love. I will leave you with this last phrase.

The best things in life are free… so go on a living spree! Live today as if were your last, turn someday into today and make each day a perfect day because you were fortunate enough to live it!

That phrase changed my relationship with money forever.

It’s interesting how we fall into patterns in our lives.