How to be in the present moment?

Do you often think to yourself that you haven't seen the day go by? Do you never have "a minute of your own"? Sometimes we have to think about so many things in our lives at 100 per hour that we feel our head is full and about to implode.

In these moments, your thoughts are turned to the future or the past, and you have a hard time being in the present moment. However, as this quote from Lao Tzu says so well:

“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 with yourself, you are living in the present ”

So how do you go about being fully in the moment? We give you all our advice in this article! ☯️

Connect to your body through your senses 👁️

When we know that the human brain produces 60,000 thoughts a day, we understand better why we can quickly feel overwhelmed and disconnected from the present moment.

Here is a simple way to refocus in the present moment: connect to your 5 senses  : 

• Start by scanning what is happening around you 

• Note what you feel through your nostrils

 • If you are eating, savor the food in your mouth 

• Analyze what you hear: the sounds of the house, of nature.

• Feel the fabric of your clothes against your skin, the warmth of the quilt on your body, or the contact of your yoga mat with your feet.

🧘‍♀️ By taking the time to do these little analyzes through your 5 senses, you are fully connected to the present moment. The best thing is to be able to repeat this  exercise regularly throughout your day. Savor this moment and notice how soothing it is to no longer think about what to do or what you have accomplished (or not accomplished) in your day! 

Stop distractions! 🔕

 Sometimes, you feel like you never have time for yourself, and yet you've just spent an hour tirelessly scrolling through Instagram, like an automaton, or watching videos.

Of course, spending time on networks can be rewarding, but only when you know where to go, what to do, and get out of it without getting lost. We all know where it leads us 😜 !) And here are long minutes or even long hours spent wasting time unnecessarily 😄

📴 To stay grounded in the moment, try taking screen breaks. A little digital detox doesn't hurt every now and then! You will notice that you will pay special attention to the tasks that you are going to perform without a screen, in particular manual activities for example. And when you're online, try to do one thing at a time. For example, you only reply to comments on your photo and you won't be scrolling Instagram. The goal is not to let yourself be dispersed, to accomplish the task of the present in full awareness!

Take care of yourself 💫

Have you noticed that when you do an activity that you enjoy, you are completely absorbed in the task? You don't have any parasitic thoughts, because you are fully devoted to what you are doing in the present moment. The goal is to cultivate this way of being fully present and grounded: you can identify activities that do you good mentally and physically and in which you feel fully present.

For example: singing, drawing, dancing, reading, listening to music, doing your fav subject, taking a bath, baking a cake, having a massage, going for a walk or even meditating.

🛀 When you take care of yourself, in full awareness and with attention, it allows you to reconnect with yourself and therefore in the present moment.

TIME ⏰

Sometimes, you have so much to do in your day that you tell yourself that if you can manage your time perfectly, you will be happier to have accomplished all your tasks. However, wanting to control time too much generates stress and anxiety . We can quickly feel frustrated when we have not succeeded in doing everything we noted on our to-do-list.

If you have the feeling that you have no control over anything in your schedule, then that means that you need all the more to slow down and breathe. As a pretty "Zen" thought says: "If you have time, meditate 20 minutes a day, if you don't have time, meditate 40 minutes" .

🐌 Take a step back from your schedule, the tighter it is and the more important it is to allow yourself to let go and "do less" to slow down, enjoy the essential things in life and regain your calm. You will see that you will be all the more efficient after taking this time for yourself!

Doing yoga is being in the present moment 🌞

Finally, when you are in the flow of yoga, you are in the present moment. You don't need to accomplish anything, achieve a result, you just ARE here and now. As you practice, you develop this ability to be present to you and to your feelings.

Being fully in the present moment is  the key to our inner happiness, because there is no longer any future or past, and we no longer suffer when thinking about what we could have done or what we should do.