How to Be More Present

Last week we set off on our family road trip to the Rocky Mountains.

We spent a few days slowly making our way to the Rocky Mountains by making multiple stops to ride our mountain bikes, camp, and eventually end up in Canmore which is about 30 minutes from Banff.

On our way to the Rockies, we spent a few days in Valemount camping and visiting their huge mountain bike park for a village of only 1000 people.

As my daughter is only six years old, my husband and I are used to taking turns going mountain biking while the other spends time with our daughter.

Usually this arrangement works well but as we were out in grizzly bear country, I found it a bit unnerving to be biking by myself in a new place so far out in the woods.

With limited options and no ride buddies, I started out by myself slowly making my way up the bike trail. It was a beautiful bike ride and a very well-built machine-created trail.

As I started riding, I was feeling nervous about being by myself in a new place out in the wilderness. I was scared to run into a bear or a cougar by myself.

As time went on, my thoughts started to get really busy as I started to feel more and more nervous.

I started to think about other things to distract myself from feeling nervous. I was thinking about all the other places that I had biked and I was comparing the trail I was on to other bike parks I had visited.

My thoughts were really wandering.

I was thinking about pretty much everything else except for the mountain biking that I was doing in that moment.

And I caught myself.

I realized I had driven 8 hours to get to this bike park in Valemount, which is in the middle of nowhere, and I wasn't even paying attention to the bike trail that I was on.

Once I caught myself I used a few of my tools to bring myself back to the present moment.

I took a few deep breaths.

I let my thoughts settle and quiet down.

I noticed that I was feeling anxious about running into a bear or cougar by myself on the trail but by being present I could allow that bit of anxiety to be there and still have my attention focused on the beautiful forest around me.

I wanted to be present so that I could take it all in and appreciate that we had traveled so far to visit such a beautiful place.

Once I made it to the top of the trail I took a moment to take in the beautiful surroundings and then started going down and there was some cool features to ride on as you can see in this photo

There are only four places our minds go when we leave the present moment:

-The Past

-The Future

-Ourselves

-Someone else

And neuroscience estimates that we think from 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day and only 5% of those thoughts are spent focusing on the present moment.

But here's the thing –

The present moment is the only place you can access your true nature who is always calm, always content, and always peaceful.

When our mind goes to those four places and leaves the present moment, then we are caught up in our thinking.

And we can't be in our thinking and living from our true nature at the same time. It is only one or the other.

We are thinking creatures with brains that will never stop thinking.

But what we can do is notice when we are caught up in our thoughts which is flagged when we are not being present. Then gently remind ourselves to come back to the preen moment which is always a space of peace, ease, and joy.

Some of my clients call this the freedom space.

Sometimes it's called coming home.

It doesn't really matter what you call it.

What's important is that as you start to intentionally spend more time there by being present.

When you do, you become more familiar with what it feels like. It's the feeling itself that acts as your compass, guiding you back to your true nature.

Now back to the mountain bike trail.

Once I called myself back to the present moment, suddenly the trees looked greener, the silence was beautiful, and I felt very connected to nature as I enjoyed the ride up the beautiful trail.

I did end up seeing a bear though..

But it was back at our camp site!

A small bear was walking through the bushes beside our tent. We carefully scared it away and it scampered off into the woods.

For the rest of my mountain bike ride, though, I took the time to slow down and enjoy trail.