Hi all, I have not been writing so many blogs lately. Don't know why really. I think I lose touch sometimes with myself and others in general. It's never personal to anybody. I just get my bad days too. I ain't bulletproof and people I help know this. I wrote my very first Blog on being Present. So check that out too.
So brings me to the subject of being present. Did ya notice that the "Present" in the title has a mix of upper and lower case letters? Or did ya look, notice, and kind of skim past it. If you stopped, recognized what was being written and either has question's why? or see it and said that's cool...whatever. WELL DONE you were present. It's something we take sooooo for granted. We wake up and what do we do? Start thinking. By the way, the same thoughts that ya had yesterday, and the day before that and the week before that and the 3 months before that are not going away unless we start doing something about it and shift the thinking into Presence.
Our minds are always in the past (Depression) or in the future (Anxieties). I detach sometimes and not really sure where I am at. I have told people when it has happened. I am here but not here. I detach out from my body. If my anxiety or depression gets bad it can happen then. But again....mine is from my Anxiety or Depression.
One of the best ways to combat a lot of your negative thinking is to come to the present. There are a number of ways of doing this. Some I like to teach like Mindful eating. It's about recognizing ya mind is drifting into another realm and pulling it back to what you are doing at hand. I had a crazy experience today with this. My wife and I were in the bathroom and my wife was telling me something that's stressful. As I started to shave my presence was totally on the shaving. I could really hear and listen to the hair being cut. The curves of the face. The sent of the shaving cream I was using. Then I wet my hand and rubbed it back over my face to lather up again to run the blade over again. My mind went to what I was feeling. Where the blade was on my face. how smooth it was after. FULLY present. Not only that, I could hear and listen to my wife and hold the conversation. So full attention on her too. My anxiety was starting to pop today but as my mind has been wandering I have been able to pull it back through the day.
Meditation is number one. I like to teach this too. Breath meditation is the number one for me. You can live a while without food. Heck, ya can even go a little without water. But stop ya breath and see what happens. It's always with ya. So, when ya learn to do breath meditation and then practice every day, you will start to get the experiences of presence because meditation itself is all about being present. When you can learn to focus on the breath in and out of the nostrils Full focus, fully present. Now ya present. Another way is to look for colors. In the car and feel the negatives coming? Be aware of the thoughts then move ya attention to colors around you. What's red? Whats Blue? Look for an off the wall color. Be aware of sounds. Maybe the music through ya speakers. How about sounds outside. Don't label the sound. As soon as you say BIRD the brain knows what a bird sounds like and you will miss the important parts of the sound of the bird. What about the pitch? The volume? Left/Right? Front or back of you? Length of tone? Is it repeated? How long before it repeats. Everything about the sound. Not the label of the bird. Or whatever ya listen to. Ya can do it with anything you hear.
How about touch. Keep a rough pebble in ya pocket. Or something that you can feel and become present with it. Then focus. Pull the mind from the negative thinking and pull it to the touch. Touch different textures. Close ya eyes and focus. How about different materials. Ya T-shirt is gonna feel different than ya pants. Over time ya maybe even able to pick out better quality cotton and fabrics by being present.
Taste. One thing I got while being a Chef was a pallet. It has to be trained by tasting many many different things. I have tasted some awesome things. I have tasted not so awesome things to me. That I know others love. Like Caviar. I don't know maybe, I ate it wrong. But having a pallet is a blessing. It's how I am able to put tastes together in my head then hopefully create it on a plate. You have to be present with what you are tasting. Sweet, Sour, Texture, Etc. Being present with your food will give you a whole new look at what you are eating. Take a fork full of food. put the fork down and pay attention to the food. Everything about it. Don't chew right away. Let it sit. What are you aware of? Be 100% present.
Now to Smell. I was out trimming hedges today in my front garden. The sun was low and my wife was pulling weeds. I grabbed the hedge clipper and started trimming the hedges. Not only did I tune into the sound. I could hear the blades trimming the branches. But, I could also tune into the smell. Also, the cooler evening in Florida this time of year gets its own scent. Ever gone out and can smell fresh-cut grass? How about the Orange blossom scent being blown in front of you?. How about rain after a dry period? Guess what? Ya being present.
So that's ya 5 senses. Ya can use them to ya advantage. In fact, you do it every day. You just don't tune in to it and use it. We take it for granted. All the while you are tuning into them the better advantage you have of getting on top of ya thoughts.
Namaste