Posts tagged “being present”

Mindfulness and meditation are often used as interchangeable terms, but they are really two different but similar things. Mindfulness is a way of being present and engaged in the present, or living life in real-time and being aware of what is in your world at the moment.

Meditation is a practice. It involves doing a specific activity, such as deep breathing or focusing on a candle, and then allowing the mind to clear through concentration and returning the wandering mind back to focus. In this way, meditation becomes an element of mindfulness, or getting out of your thoughts and focusing on experiences.

Research has shown that mindfulness offers a range of different benefits. Since this is a way of being rather than a specific practice, many people find the idea of mindfulness easier to incorporate into their daily lives.

Mindfulness and Mental Health

Practicing mindfulness can be an effective option for people who are struggling with anxiety or depression. It creates a space to allow thoughts to simply flow through your mind as you enjoy the experience of being in the moment. This could include taking a minute to appreciate the sensation of the sun on your skin or the warm water as you have a shower. It is truly a grounding exercise that allows people to let go of negativity for periods of time throughout the day.

The same is true if people are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. This is often due to being stuck in a mental loop about needing to get things done and imagining all the things that could go wrong. Taking the time to just sit and experience the moment lets all that go, allowing you to clear the mental clutter.

Mindfulness and Physical Health

Mindfulness as a part of daily life can help to reduce blood pressure and create both physical and mental relaxation. At the same time, studies show that mindfulness before bedtime allows people to let go of the worries and thoughts of the day, creating the ideal conditions for the brain to move more easily into the sleep cycle.

Mindfulness about what we are doing and thinking helps us to make healthier choices, with in turn provides positive reinforcement. We begin to stop and think about behaviors rather than just acting, which reduces impulsive choices in all aspects of our life.

Mindfulness is the opposite of MindFULLness. Taking the time to breathe deeply and scan your body to see what you are feeling physically is a simple exercise in mindfulness anyone can practice throughout the day. Doing this when you begin to feel stressed or anxious is a healthy mindfulness habit that is a great place to start.

Mindfulness is the practice of being present. It is not always a natural state of mind. Most of us are focused on what has happened in the past, the “should have, could have, would have” thoughts, or focused on the future “what if” thoughts.

The problem with focusing on the past is there is no way to change what has happened. Focusing on the future is simply a waste of time, particularly when these thoughts only highlight every possible mistake, pitfall, or error that occurs. By being present in the moment, you can focus on the possibilities, the reality, and how and where you can make changes to bring about the changes you want.

This quote by Lao Tzu sums it up beautifully:  “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

Being Present – What it Looks Like

Being present means being fully engaged in what is happening at the moment. It is perhaps easiest to think about living by experiencing the world through your five senses.

When you are fully present, you notice details, colors, textures, patterns, and the things in your environment. You listen carefully for the tone of voice, body language, expressions, and responses. This helps you to be authentic and intentional in your communication, both at home as well as at work.

The opposite of being intentional and present is being on autopilot. Most people have experienced eating a meal and not remembering what they had, or driving their route to work and not recalling one specific detail of the trip. Sometimes, we may even have entire conversations with a spouse, child, or colleague and walk away and have no recollection of the specific details.

By tapping into what is happening in the moment, we become engaged in real-time. We are not worrying about the future or the past, multitasking, or simply tuning out. When we tune in rather than tune out, we understand more, handle stress more effectively, and build stronger relationships at work and in our personal lives.

Breathe In and Out

It is very normal to find our mind drifting to the past or the future and avoiding the present, particularly in difficult, boring, stressful, or routine types of activities. Being present can seem like a challenge, but it is just a habit you need to develop.

Start by noticing that you are not focusing on the present and what is in your immediate environment. Next, take a few deep breaths and sense the air coming in and out of your body. Then, take a focused look at the things around you, listen to hear the sounds, feel the texture of items you are touching, smell the scents, or maybe really enjoy that next sip of coffee, tea, or water.

Being present is being fully there for the people around you as well as for yourself. It is highly effective in reducing stress, improving communication, and building relationships at home and at the office.

Mindfulness is often confused with meditation, and while they do have similar characteristics and techniques, they are very different. It is often helpful to think of mindfulness as a way of becoming more aware of the world around you in that moment in time. Meditation is a way of letting go of thoughts and experiencing inner peace, calmness, and balance. It is less about observing and more about turning inward.

With that general description in mind, it is easier to see how mindfulness, or the practice of being “in the moment” is possible throughout the day. There is no need to find a quiet space or create a routine to focus inward. Instead, people can learn to be mindful of the world they are in at any given point in time.

Let’s look at a few easy ways to incorporate mindfulness into daily activities both at work and at home.

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a great way to start the day or to take a mental break at lunch. Rather than checking emails or checking up on social media posts, tune into the entire experience of eating.

Take the time to look at your food, to see your surroundings, and to appreciate all that you have. Use all your senses, including your sense of smell, to experience the food before you take the first bite. When you do take a bite, give yourself time to feel the texture of the food, feel the sensation of chewing, and experience the flavors in your mouth. Feel the food passing down your throat as you swallow.

This exercise can be done when you are eating alone or with others. If you are with others, observe the people, really take the time to hear the sound of their voices, and to experience being with them in the moment.

Take a Nature Break for Health

Getting out of the office or workplace and being outside is another form of mindfulness. As with the mindful eating exercise, engage all your senses as you go for a walk. Focus your mind on the colors and shapes you see, the sounds you hear, the things you feel, smell, and perhaps even taste.

This is not about letting go of thoughts. Instead, it is about refocusing your mind on the experience at the moment. By getting “out of your head” you let go of anxiety and stress about the what ifs, allowing for more effective decision making, creativity, and problem solving.

Recreate Your World 

Another mindfulness exercise you can do anywhere is to take a minute and really look at your surroundings. Notice all the details and items in the environment. Then, close your eyes and visualize the space in your head. If this is too difficult at first, start by examining one object in detail and then closing your eyes, learning to capture and replay all the details in a mindful way.

These exercises help you to clear your mind and declutter your thinking processes. The more you use mindfulness, the easier these activities will become.

It is very natural in times of challenge, chaos, and change to turn into a turtle and hide in your shell. For different people, this may mean different things, from becoming inflexible and stuck to those who try to weather the storm until it passes.

However, staying stuck is sometimes more stressful than trying something new. Setting goals, even small goals, is a way to challenge ourselves to keep growing and developing and to recognize our accomplishments and successes. Celebrating small successes and accomplishments on a daily basis is a great habit to develop in 2021.

Reasonable Goals and Important Considerations

There is a lot of push these days for leaders and teams to set stretch goals. Setting stretch goals in times when the future is unsure is not only tricky, it can also be demoralizing as the chances of reaching those goals seems to slip through your fingers.

A better option would be to set reasonable goals and to plan to evaluate the goals at regular dates throughout the year. For example, building in a three, six, and nine-month evaluation of the goal allows for flexibility and tweaking of the plan.

The quarterly evaluations of the goals also take into account the changes in the economy, the ability for people to move from remote work to office-based workdays, and even changes in meeting and reaching new markets and potential clients and customers.

Short Term Goals

Another option may be to set short-term goals that are mini-steps along the way to a bigger goal. This allows you to create a milestone type of professional development plan that is flexible in uncertain and challenging times.

SMART goals, which are goals that are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant  and Timebound are a great option for any short-term goals setting plan. The more precise you can be in each of the elements, the more you can celebrate meeting and achieving these goals.

It’s OK to Change

A common mistake in goal setting is to see the goals as if they are written in stone. Things can happen in life, and limiting your ability to make changes to your goals only causes more stress.

It is essential to think about options to achieving a goal and not just pushing everything to the side. Is it possible to extend the timeline, to include additional milestones missed in the original plan, or to look at dividing a big goal into two or more smaller, more manageable goals?

Goals should motivate and focus your personal and professional growth. Once goals start adding to stress, pressure, or frustration, they are no longer useful or helpful. Be flexible, be reasonable, and be willing to consider options in personal and professional growth this year and beyond.

If it seems like the word mindfulness is used a lot these days in both personal and professional growth, you are correct. There is a very good reason why times like these create a desire for people to feel more grounded, connected, and secure in their life and the world around them.

Mindfulness is a way of being present in the world to experience the moment. In times of stress, chaos, and change, having this ability to see yourself in real-time interacting in positive and meaningful ways is a particularly important experience. It is an effective way to reduce stress and feelings of overwhelm, as well as a way to center yourself.

It is easy to confuse mindfulness with meditation. While they are similar, mindfulness is focused on the present and the here and now, while meditation focuses on experiencing inner peace, calming the mind, and opening of the heart. Mediation is typically a structured activity allowing the mind to let go, while mindfulness is a practice that can occur anywhere and helps the mind to engage with the environment, both inside and outside of the body.

Reducing the “What If” Stress and Fear

It is natural for people to worry about the future. The fear may be based on concerns about employment, the growth of a business, or about more personal issues such as health, the safety of loved ones, or issues around finances, relationships, or other similar issues.

Mindfulness helps to break the negative cycle of all those “what if” thoughts that race around in your head. It clears the mind from thinking of all that can possibly go wrong and focuses it on what is working right now at this unique point in time.

Seeing the Potential

Our minds naturally move to “what’s next” rather than what is going on in the moment. By training ourselves to focus on the task at hand and the present reality, we are open to new possibilities and potentials.

For example, if you are rushing through a meeting to get to another meeting, are you really listening to what is being said? Are you focusing on the message and the speaker, or just listening to the general flow of the conversation while your inner voice is hurrying you along?

Slowing down and listening, engaging, and interacting in a mindful way creates a connection with friends, family, and those in the workplace. In leadership roles in any organization, this is a critical skill to hone in times of change and challenge.

“Mindfulness is a way of being present: paying attention to and accepting what is happening in our lives. It helps us to be aware of and step away from our automatic and habitual reactions to our everyday experiences.”

~Elizabeth Thornton

The term mindfulness is often associated with mediation, and it certainly has a role in the practice. However, mindfulness can also be a way of being and of experiencing the world around you, opening up new possibilities and opportunities simply by being attuned to what is happening at a given moment in time.

If you think about most of your thoughts around your business, or even around your personal life, they tend to fall into two distinctive categories. One is thinking about the past, including both positive and negative experiences. The second category is in thinking about the future, which includes planning, development and seeking out future options for personal and professional growth.

The problem with these two categories of thought is one focuses on events that have already happened and cannot change, and the other focuses on thoughts that are yet to happen and cannot be directed or controlled.

There is a third possibility, and those are events that are happening in the moment. These are the events and opportunities that can be controlled and can be created and molded as they unfold around us.

Learning how to be mindful is about focusing in on the reality of our life at the moment it is happening. Through processes such as meditation, anyone can develop the ability to be in the moment, to be truly present in the current time, removed from the limitations of the past and the yet to happen potential of the future.

The Results Are In

In studies completed around the world, including in such prestigious institutions as Harvard and Stanford, there were some amazing results found when business professionals, including those completing MBA programs or business studies, were taught mindfulness practices.

The studies found that mindfulness practices increased gray matter in the brain while also lowering cortisol levels. This translates into a higher level of problem-solving ability and information processing combined with lower reported levels of stress. Managers and leaders in industry reported feeling calmer, more centered and less reactive, while also being more effective at business decision making, problem-solving and working collaboratively with others.

At the same time, being mindful and taking in the information from the world around them also made a significant change in how the business leaders approached problems and challenges. They reported being more creative and having the ability to see multiple options for the resolution of a challenge, rather than developing tunnel vision or focusing on one solution.

Mindfulness, or becoming aware of the moment in non-judgmental terms, is a powerful tool for building a healthy workplace culture and creating effective leadership tools that really work.

Being in the Moment

Being in the moment is a mode where instead of reacting to events and people, we choose how we direct our attention and awareness of them, and respond. This saves time and energy and brings other business benefits.

Getting out of your head

Who has not been caught up by having their buttons pushed and reacting immediately, usually with less than an optimal outcome?  Yes, they would prefer to be more responsive and creative. But reacting is a cycle. You might wonder why you so easily veer into feeling worked up, agitated, and stressed knowing that you would rather feel calm and centered, and focus on constructive action.

 What is “being in the moment” like?

Being in the moment is the mode where action can flourish and stress is absent. Creative responses are more likely when we’re in the moment. Authenticity and thinking on one’s feet also come easily from this mode. When we are in the moment we are very powerful because we respond instead of react to challenging situations and people.

 Two Core Skills

Being in the moment is comprised of two overarching skills. The first is awareness, and the second is attention. We are well aware of what is going on around us, but are hardly ever aware of how we process what is going on. A reactive cycle takes us out of the moment, so we’re less effective. Awareness of how we process what is going on is important for leaders and organizations because it saves time and energy.

 Awareness

New, better responses to work, leadership and life arise naturally when we are first aware of what goes on ‘upstairs’. Our ‘doing’ follows our state of being. Once a leader keys in on this awareness, s/he has a powerful mode to use. They reclaim their attention and can now direct it in purely constructive and creative ways. Awareness is a first step because we can control only those things that we are aware of.

 Reactions

Once this awareness is generated, the leader notices that much time and energy is spent reacting to people and situations. A reaction is a conditioned way of processing the world. It is automatic and uncontrolled. When we say ‘he/she really pushed my buttons’ we are describing a reaction. Someone or something happened and we are now thinking in a way that is both uncontrolled and likely to lead to further agitation and stress.

 No Time to Think

Some reactions, like the ones that get us out of harm’s way, are necessary to our survival. You saw a bus careening down the road and you leapt out of the way. Your mind reacted and you did not have time to become agitated or stressed about the bus careening down the road. You did not have time to think, “Oh, this is rather negative.” Or “Why does this always happen to me?” Your focus was simply on action.

Being in this Moment

You were naturally in the moment. The external event was processed quickly enough that you created no blocks to action. Blocks to action happen when we process an external situation or person in a way that causes an internal problem for us. We know when we are turning an event or person into a problem when we take on stress, anger, anxiety or a host of other negative states. For the practical purposes of learning how to be in the moment, we will just call these undesirable states. This is the true problem, as negative reactions waste time and energy.

 Conserve Time and Energy

Unlike the split-second jump out of the way of a bus, there seems to be all sorts of time and energy available in our workdays to create negative reactions. These block action as well as creative responses. They hinder relationships, and slowly turn promising people into puddles of anxiety.

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