The Art of Being Present

Modern life is characterized by a high level of information and noise frustration, which hinders people from being present in the moment. However, the impact of learning how to become present in ones own life is significantly important in our psychological, practical performance, and even our sense of well-being. Here is how incorporating mindfulness can revolutionalise both your private and your work life.

Understanding Presence

This entails being aware of the present time and giving it your undivided attention for example, simple or more complicated tasks, interactions with co-workers, while you eat do nothing but that. Meditation means being aware of one’s sensations, ideas, and feelings only in as much as they are occurring at the present moment, not as preceding or following events. This mindfulness can increase your awareness, decrease stress and even help in improving relationships.

Benefits of Being Present

Enhanced Productivity: Multitasking on the other hand reduces productivity in handling tasks since the mind will barely concentrate on a single task at a given time. In contrast, multitasking is likely to cause mistakes and a reduced standard of work.

Improved Relationships: The ideas being communicated can only be well understood if all the parties involved are available to listen and not just pay lip service to it. Besides, indicating how much you appreciate the time of the other party and its contribution, it enhances cooperation in professional and interpersonal spheres. To listen without an opinion or a response, have you tried this before?

Reduced Stress: Meditation and deep breathing practices, also called ‘mindfulness’ are very useful to help in combating stress. Thus, being present helps control emotions when responding to situations and to be as calm as possible.

Greater Satisfaction: Living in the full means to be involved in your experiences to the extent where it becomes meaningful and complete. It makes you more open to embrace simple things in life that make life worth living.

How to Cultivate Presence

Practice Mindfulness: It is recommended to find some time throughout the day to do activities aimed at increasing mindfulness. This may include just becoming more aware of your breath, the area around you or guided relaxation exercise.

Limit Distractions: Design an area in which you can effectively and efficiently work with as few disturbances as possible. If you want to reduce distractions, disable all or most of your notifications, leave your device(s) elsewhere for parts of your day, define the time intervals for when you will check your emails, learn how to prioritize your tasks and to not treat them as tick box exercises.

Engage Fully in Conversations: One should be alert at all times when interacting with people. Ask questions, and create and embrace genuine care about what the other person has to share.

Take Breaks: Take refreshing breaks and in that way when you get back to your task(s), you’ll feel more refreshed to complete what you’re able to. Walking or stretching allows the mind to wander, which is a good thing :)

Set Intentions: To create this state at your workplace, the purpose is to be present at the beginning of each day or meeting. This could serve as a mental cue that could assist an individual for when a work day is boring - they can focus on this cue and get back to business.

Conclusion

Being present is a skill that could compliment each part of your life. Awareness helps to reduce the dispersion of attention and focus on what is happening in the present, which makes it possible to achieve more calmness, efficiency, and satisfaction. In a world that is full of many distractions, returning to one’s center is a strong way to map your life and career.

I encourage as many as possible to write their response to mindfulness and presence in the comment section below. How do you remain attentive in your day to day?