How often do you drive while
talking on a cell phone and miss your exit, or walk into a room and forget
Most of us allow our minds to
wander off into never-never land, rather than be present in the here and
now. As a result, you forget things,
become distracted or stressed, react to demands of others, and feel overwhelmed
at the end of each day. Your boss needs
a project done tomorrow and the kids need to be picked up in a few minutes. Your email in-box has thousands of requests
and comments waiting to be read and you have 8 missed messages on your cell
phone. All week you have been running in
fifth gear and there seems to be no relief in sight. When do you make time for yourself?
If there is one word I can share
with you today to help ease the confusion and frustration in your daily life,
that word would be this: simplify! Stop trying to be everything to everyone and
realize what your limits are. Once you
become aware of the habits you have created (not saying “no” when you need to
or filling your day with everyone else’s priorities) and acknowledge your
limits, then you will find it easier to learn to be in the present.
I’d like to share with you some
ways to focus on the present moment.
1.
Think about what is happening right
now—at this very moment. What are you
doing? Where are you? What are you thinking about? Is it something from the past? Are you worried about something in the future? Your mind will take a thought and run it into
the ground if you allow it to. It will remind you over and over that you did
something wrong in the past, or that you lack confidence to accomplish
something in the future. If you realize
this and accept the fact that it will happen, then you can do something about
it. You can focus on the present and
push aside past and future negative thoughts and fears. Just close your eyes now and focus.
2.
Take some time to think about the
past thing that your mind wants to constantly haunt you with. Analyze what happened and ask yourself what
you can do next time or how you might change the outcome. Take that information, learn from the mistake
you made and move on. Let it go as
another one of life’s learning experiences
that has made you wiser. This is a much
healthier way to stop those thoughts.
3.
If it is a future thing that has
you worried, realize that we have no control over our future. We only have control over what we can do at
the present moment. All you can do is
put forth your best effort and have confidence in knowing that you will do your
best. Take time to practice in front of others;
write out what you’ll say or do, ask others for their opinions and constructive
criticism, and imagine yourself accomplishing your task and how great it will
feel to get it done.
4.
Realize that you are not
perfect. You have flaws, I have flaws,
and that’s okay. Don’t try to be
perfect, especially if you are not using your strengths as you perform your
task. Things can change at any time, so
make room for anything to happen that may toss a hurtle in your way. And now that you know you’re not perfect, try
to enjoy the task as a learning
venture and learn from it.
5.
And now it’s time to focus on the
here and the now—the present. Because
you can spend so much of your time beating yourself up for past mistakes or worrying
about what’s to come, you have to make a choice to think about simply being present in
the moment. This is how you enjoy
life! If you want to get the most out of
life--out of each day—you must take time to ask yourself what’s important right
NOW. If you practice this, it becomes
easier. This exercise truly helps the ADD mind to focus.
Breathe in the moment right now and
sense how good it feels. As you breathe
out and relax, you get rid of the frustrations and negative energy that has built up. After only a few minutes of
breathing deeply and slowly exhaling, you will find it much easier to
focus. You’ve just given your brain more
oxygen and blood. You’ve opened up
channels of thought that have been closed.
And now you can intentionally make decisions that will take you further
into your day. You have just given
yourself a gift of time—all for you.
If you want an 8 minute guided example of how to be in the
present moment, I’m offering a FREE Zone
of Total Focus mp3 recording. You’ll
find it at http://www.onedegreeforward.com. Try it and tell me how it felt to take a few
moments out of your day for yourself.
Cathy Dick
ADD Productivity Coach
One Degree Forward
