Presence

Life can become overwhelming! Mortgage, bills, unexpected loss, car troubles, work, school, the list could go on. Take a second to think of how far you have come in this life. How have you made it through some of your most difficult moments? Sometimes we are still healing from these experiences. Sometimes we have come to a realization that life will be life regardless of our emotions and our reactions to events. When we have an experience leaving us feeling overwhelmed or down, we sometimes turn to other things for distraction. Some easy distractions today include technology, television, food just to name a few. When we have these negative emotions, we tend to use things to push our true feelings aside because they are uncomfortable.

We rarely allow ourselves to sit with the unpleasant emotions. Feeling the uncomfortable is actually good for us to feel rather than turning to the distraction. When we feel overwhelmed or misunderstood we turn to these coping mechanisms to turn our thoughts off. What we do not realize is that when we turn to these easy ways of distracting our thoughts, it becomes a habit. Most of us have our phones on us 24/7, it is so easy to have a negative thought, unlock our phone and go straight to looking at cute puppy videos. Understand there are always going to be distractions and it is okay to have them and use them. We do want to steer away from us using these distractions as a crutch.

Take five minutes a day to sit with yourself. This is all you need to start your internal healing. You may have unpleasant thoughts or emotions arise and it may feel overwhelming at first, but in time you come to look at your thoughts and yourself without judgement. Without judgement, you may say, that is impossible! We are humans; this is a natural response to any event. We are self-critical but know that it is okay to have that thought and let it go. We are able to allow the thoughts to come and go, without judgement, breathing in the present moment.

You can do this here while you read, notice your breath on the inhale and exhale, feel your feet on the floor, your clothes on your skin, and the noises around you. The only moment that matters is this one. That does not mean that our traumas are magically healed, but when we are able to sit with ourselves and feel the present moment this trains our brains to use this mechanism at all moments, when cooking, exercising, dancing, listening to music. The easiest way to be present is to go for a walk. Walking allows us to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Feeling each part of your foot touching the ground, heal to toe. Hearing the noises around you and only noticing them. Feeling your breath on the inhale and exhale notice how they feel. When a thought creeps in we let it pass, understanding that all thoughts are fleeting. Decompress from everyday life; allow ourselves a few moments to be present. Our list of responsibilities will seem less daunting and help us complete one task one moment at a time.