I first heard of “being present” when I read some of Dalai Lama books. It was quite a foreign concept to me prior to this and perhaps I came close to understanding its powers when I did Yoga.
“Being Present” is about truly experiencing this current moment, as we are right now. It is about focusing on this very minute, savoring whatever this moment offers. It is not about looking into the future, worrying about future events or even past events. It is about creating stillness within oneself to stop all those voices from chattering away.
When you have practiced “being present” you will feel a sense of lightness come over you. It instantly calms you and makes you feel happy inside. “Being present” is achieved the best when you practice meditation.
This is how I personally have found a way to find that space, where you can truly allow yourself to be….. Present.
Find a calm and tranquil space where you can be alone for at least 20minutes without interruption. Sit cross legged or lie on your back. Tell yourself, you are now going to be present and focus on being present. This starts the training process with your mind and becomes like a habit. Once you decide, you make a point of not thinking about the day ahead, or what has happened but allow yourself to truly focus on being right there, in that moment. This means focusing on yourself, your body, how it feels, how your legs feel, your toes, your hands and your face. Allow the muscles to relax and take a deep breath. Now, focus on your breathing. Each breath, recognize how your body reacts to your breath. Feel its amazing power within yourself. Now, listen to the noises around you. There may be birds tweeting or you might hear trees rustling. Focus on each sound and allow yourself to really enjoy being there, in that moment. Go deep into your mind and stop it completely. Slow it down to a dull whisper and breathe in deeply.
So, Dalai Lama proposes that “being present” is what ultimately makes us happy. I can see why. You feel somehow in control and focused after doing such a simple thing as stopping your mind from racing away all day. I find I use this practice throughout the day now. When things become hectic and my mind is racing, I am now able to just stop it all, just for a minute and focus totally on that moment. The sounds slow down, the voices become a whisper and when I return to the situation it somehow becomes easier and less chaotic than before.
You should try it and learn to “be present”. I reckon it will help you heaps with Endometriosis too. Next time, you have pain….. go through this process. Lie down flat on your bed, focus on your body. Allow yourself to feel the pain. Not in a kind of “oh my god this is so sore” kinda way but rather from a distance. Focus on your breathing, focus on your body as a whole and allow the pain to almost loose its total presence over your body. It requires quite a bit of training to get this to really work because inevitably when we get pain, we also get panicky. We think to ourselves, is this ever going to end?, why is it so sore? Is it getting worse? Etc etc. By practicing meditation and what they call “being present” often, you will be able to even distance yourself from the pain itself. Thing is, panicking and freaking out because of the pain is just making you more sore. Allow yourself to almost allow the pain to come over you. Allow it to be there but not dominate.
At the end of the day we all have amazing powers over our mind and how we cope with situations. Meditation or “being present” allows you to tap into these powers. Once you perfect them you can also focus on the mind in other ways. This can be taken on in so many positive ways and is an amazing coping mechanism. You can teach the mind to: “believe that you can”, “be positive” or even “cure endometriosis”. It is all within your power to have anything you want out of life. The only differential factor is you and your mind and belief of what you can do.
We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
Dalai Lama
Author of Cure Endometriosis & Eating with Mel.
