Being In The Present Moment

This has been a rough morning. I was disappointed in my own performance this morning. I goofed off more than did useful work. Then I went to the store to get something and realized that I couldn’t get what I wanted. The store is a membership store and I did not have my card with me. I was getting angrier by the minute. Then I thought about being present in the moment. Being present in the moment is a great mood fixer.

Usually, when I am upset, and this is true for most people, I am either thinking about something that has happened, like how I blew my morning, or something that was going to happen, I would have to come back to the store. It very often has very little to do with the present moment. In most cases, the present moment is perfect. You have everything you need right at that one moment in time.

When you bring yourself to the present moment and you allow yourself to think of nothing else, then problems in the past and worries about the future all seem to disappear. You can’t think about the past in the present moment, it is gone. You can’t think about the future in the present moment, it isn’t there yet. If you allow yourself only the present moment, then all else slips away.

As I started trying to keep my thoughts in the present moment, I found my anger quickly dissipating. I was no longer fuming about screwing up this morning, it was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. I was not worried about having to return to the store, that was sometime in the future.

It works the same for being depressed, how can you be sad in one moment? The past is gone and the future is not here yet. It works for being lonely, no past, no future, only the perfect now.

Next time you are out of sorts for whatever reason, try spending just ten minutes keeping your thoughts in the present moment. If your thoughts wander, gently bring them back to the now. See if being in the present moment doesn’t help.