Living in the moment

[lilmutegirl]

I think this is one of the hardest things for me to do. Sometimes, it's because whatever is happening is not pleasant (for instance, when I'm taking my test in less than an hour, I'm going to be anxiously anticipating leaving class, and probably not putting much focus on the actual test). Other times, it's just because I have a lot on my mind. I act as though thinking about an action that I must take will be sufficient (like, I thought about doing it, so I don't actually have to do it), or I plan out what I'm going to do.
I also re-live things a lot (good and bad).
Living in the moment is a conscious decision, and it's difficult to keep on track (for me, at least). Maybe if I actually faced reality, things wouldn't be so difficult for me.

 

[Lea]

I think "living in the moment" is a bs. Just live the way you can, it´s normal..

 

[O'Killian]

Living how one can is a lovely sentiment, but if the way in which one lives ones life is causing problems, well... What's wrong with trying to change that?

This thread's really sticking out in my mind because I'm not quite sure what it means to live in the moment - it sounds like a tired cliche about not taking things so seriously to me. But I have noticed that the vast majority of any anxiety I feel comes front-loaded. By way of example, it took me three damn hours to psych myself up to make a 5 minute phone call. To schedule an appointment. The three hours were absolutely god-awfully miserable; that five minutes was nothing. Totally calm, completely able to haggle out an appropriate time and such. Once something's in motion, I'm completely 'in the moment' and though I may be a bit awkward or clumsy in whatever way, it doesn't concern me much. Occasionally I may think back on something and wince, too, but eh.

I completely understand 'hey, I thought about it, so that's good enough!' It's a fantastic way to justify procrastinating. I can't operate without a plan.

If 'living in the moment' means being able to set aside one's worry to deal with the here and now, and to not put things off because they're difficult, well, I can certainly agree with that. Unfortunately I'm not sure how one goes about doing that.

 

[WeirdyMcGee]

I've done alot of work on this in the past 4 years.
As someone who suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)- I often re-live terrible things from my past.

I see my attacker in the face of every person that looks at me.
I feel the pain of being attacked every time any person gets inside of my personal space.
I taste blood in my mouth any time anyone asks me about the event or anyone related to it.
I hear my own cries whenever I try to sleep at night and have nightmares when I'm asleep and awake that trigger panic and sorrow.
This is how I live-- not in the present-- in the moment that I feel my innocence and hope was destroyed, in an event that happened almost 10 years ago- and I'm forced to re-live it every day.

So this saying and the practice of 'living in the moment' means alot to me.
I work on it every second of every day-- returning my mind to what is really happening/right now/ right before my eyes/ at this very second, rather than focusing on the past.
I deal with what's happening right now but I'm not really living it, yet.
I'm still stuck 10 years ago and it might be this way forever-- and it's not a good thing by any means.

 

[LazyHermitCrab]

It depends if it's a good moment or not.... for instance if i'm waiting in a long line i let my mind think of something more interesting

 

[KitKat2]

Meditation has helped me with focusing on the here and now and not what happened in the past.

 

[Foxface]

It ain't often that I live the moment, but when I do it's awesome!

 

[MollyBeGood]

I really think living in the present has absolutely changed how I view my life. I used to make myself sick with dwelling in the past and worrying about the future till I was informed that all there is is this moment and nothing more and then it all kinda clicked. I am happiest when I can be centered on that. I want to bring more focus to this from now on in my life as much as possible. I can't say enough about Eckhart Tolle and his teachings on this principle. I am not into new age gurus at all., which he is not, he just makes sense to me as a real person without any of the fancy talk or different dress. He speaks to average people like you and me who are sick of suffering. I highly recommend reading his books, or check him out on youtube tons of recordings free there of him. Keep an open mind and anything is possible.

 

[Flanscho]

Vipassanā is what you are looking for. It's a type of meditation that teaches you to focus on what matters right now. It's scientifically proven to reduce stress, help with phobias and depressions, increase your body awareness and so on.

Or to quote Wikipedia:
Vipassanā-meditation is thought to develop insight into the impermanence of all phenomena, and thereby lead to a permanent liberation..

fMRI were used to assess the thickness of the brains of twenty Westerners who had experience with Insight meditation. It was determined that their brains were thicker in regions of the brain involved with somatosensory, auditory, visual and interoceptive processing depending upon the amount of time that they'd spent practicing. The researchers suggest that this may slow cognitive decline typically associated with aging.

 

[gustavofring]

Yeah Tolle's advice can be pretty good.

Like he advices:
You may have stuff on your mind, thinking about the past, future. But ask yourself the question, what is wrong with your life, right at this moment? In the room you are in? It's probably not that bad.

And stuff like "sense perception"
Look around you, see everything as it is. Go out of the stream of thought.

Or "inner body awareness"
Feel the aliveness inside your body. Focus on it. This will take your attention into the "now" as well, and not on your mind.

Observing thoughts instead of identifying with them.


It's truly often wasted energy to constantly be consumed by thoughts that have no reason to be there. However, it's difficult to do this. Especially with compulsive thinking and truly bad moods.

 

[dead24]

Yes it's hard for me to just stay in the now because I keep on worrying about the bad things in the future.

 

[Amitush123]

I cant. I am always tortured by thoughts about the future - the long shift I'll have the next day, all the cooking I'll have to do today...I can't enjoy a day off peacefully

 

[MNM322]

You can live in the moment, I have and still try to as much as possible. As long as you relax and clear your mind and just breathe, you can do it.

Its not so much a saying meant to "love every second" of everything even if its bad, its more, just try to not WORRY and just be. Its easier said than done but its my goal everyday to "live like a dog" and dogs live in the moment... so I truly strive for this

 

[laure15]

It's hard to "live in the moment" for every second of my life. My mind can be very busy. Sometimes I think about the past, sometimes the future, sometimes daydream, and I even have music stuck in my head. It's hard to clear the mind completely and achieve total awareness of the present for prolonged periods of time, unless you're a monk.