There are certainly times when doing mundane tasks or watching a movie or preparing for an exam, our mind is anxious or restless. This is due to our preoccupied minds or quite simply our mind is thinking about a zillion other things.
I am sure you must have experienced the above.
There have been many times when I was at work and I used to think of the chores pending at home and likewise when I was home I used to think about the tasks at work.
Sounds familiar right?
Well, in our pursuit of having a happy and bright future we are neglecting the present and constantly worried about the future or dwelling in the past.
How do we get past this?
Our mind is thinking something while we are doing something totally different.
I am sure at this moment you want a solution or an idea.
Stay with me in this moment. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Keep doing this for a couple of minutes.
Ok now let’s get to the point.
How can we practise or just be mindful of being in the present moment?
This is a question we have now.
Let’s take it step by step.
Scenario 1: I am sure all of us would have played one game or another.
- What was it like when you were playing the game? You were happy and you were just focusing on the game, isn’t it?
- Where there any distractions? No, you were doing the current action; be it be kicking the ball, striking a goal, Thinking about / moving the pawn on the chess board, taking a lap(swimming, running, racing), right?
- Did you care about the results? Of course not, you didn’t have time to think about that and it was irrelevant, you were in the moment doing the action nothing else.
Be completely present in the moment and go with the flow
Scenario 2: Think of a goal or a target which was fruitful because you focused on the job at hand.
- Have you achieved goals / targets just by simply concentrating on the work at hand? True, you could reach from point A to point B in a car by simply driving with utter concentration and alertness.
- Is it true that you couldn’t enjoy the process of an activity because you were doing two or multiple things at a time? Well, sounds right. I couldn’t read a book and watch the news at one single go. Even if I tried I couldn’t fathom the context of the book or the news for a minute or two.
- Have you observed that when your phone rings or the phone beeps a Facebook / Whatsapp notification, you lose track of what you were doing for a second? Imagine checking your phone every time it beeps while you are working on an article, well doesn’t feel good.
Concentrate wholly on one single task at a time.
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Scenario 3: Imagine getting bored when doing laundry or cleaning the kitchen everyday.
- Have you felt frustrated doing the same task repeatedly at your job every single day? I wouldn’t deny, this happens with mostly all tasks
- Have you felt the need to try something different or to just leave the household chores for a maid or help? I am sure most of us would have or expect others to take up these boring tasks.
- What if you followed the Scenario 1 learning out here, would that make a difference? Try to enjoy doing the laundry, these days I put on some music while I fold the laundry which is dried. At times, I listen to music while I am cleaning the room. It certainly does the work and I feel good and satisfied.
What do you have to say to that?
Enjoy and again give it your all and don’t think of a task as big or small just think of it as a task needed to be done at this moment.
Simple right?
Probably you can observe yourself when you are doing certain tasks be it at work or at home.
Try it for yourself and see the difference it brings to your daily life.
Do let me know how it went by being in the present moment and ofcourse being productive.
Waiting to hear from you!
