6 Steps to Help You Live in The Moment
Sometimes life gets crazy. You have deadlines to meet, mouths to feed, and bills to pay, which all affect how you spend your time on any given day. But the ability to be mindful and live in the moment is key to long term happiness and life satisfaction. Add these six steps into as many life areas as possible to help you live in the moment more often.
Step 1: Make the Commitment
The first step requires that you commit to integrating living in the moment into your life. This is an essential step to being accountable and doing the work required to accomplish it. Whatever “it” is. If you committed to doing it, then it needs to be a daily priority. Include it in your schedule.
Step 2: Accept What You Can and Cannot Control
During the course of your life, you will be faced with many situations which are not under your control and you can’t change. Don’t waste time struggling with them. Instead, recognize and focus on what you CAN control and change, such as your actions, your words, and your attitudes. Breathe, take note of the things around you, and act based on what you can control.
Step 3: Avoid Distractions
After you commit to change, you need to identify things distract you and keep you from following through with the steps to affect that change. Figure out when these moments happen the most and what may be causing them. This awareness will help you avoid distractions in the future. When your thoughts and attention drift to the past or future, acknowledge them and refocus.
Step 4: Take Notice of Your Surroundings
When you distract yourself from the moment or notice yourself drifting away, immediately start describing your surroundings. What or who is around you? What are they doing? What are you doing? Find and identify recognizable things and then direct your attention to something that’s new or different. This can ground you while keeping you open to new experiences.
Step 5: Take Notice of Your Emotions
Emotions can play a significant role as to why you don’t live in the moment more often. If you experience pain or negativity from the people around you, it’s likely that you want to escape. Even remembering good memories of the past can distract you, if you relive them in the current moment. Take notice of your emotions when they happen. Later, examine how they affected what you thought and did when you were trying to live in the moment.
Step 6: Take Action
If obstacles or feelings get in your way, you need to take action to resolve the feelings or remove the obstacles. The actions can be taken now or later, depending on the solution, but creating and implementing an action-based plan to solve the problem is imperative. Brainstorm several actions you can take to resolve each problem that distracts you.
Do you struggle to live in the moment? Send an email to lisa@lisasealey.com and let me know.
