Author: Mounia Benadda

The present moment designates what stands between the past and the future: the current moment.

To be totally present at what one is doing, paying full attention to it, without getting caught up in one’s thoughts or acting like an automaton.

To be present is to fully “inhabit” your body and be connected to your five senses within the moment.

Most of the time, we are carried away or dominated by our thoughts or feelings.

We can be surprised to think about the future or the past often in a pessimistic or fearful way.

For example, the mind sometimes takes us to the past when we are shopping, for example, or to the future when we are in a queue. Instead of paying attention to what is happening moment by moment, we constantly think about what “could” happen, and how we “should” react to it.

In other words, we are afraid of what “could” happen, this fear amplifies our attachment to the mind and this resistance in the present moment increases our suffering.

We then tend to identify with these thoughts, to believe that we are these emotions.

And we leave reality to build another one that does not often make us happy.

The suffering created in the present comes from our non-acceptance of what is, the mind always seeks to avoid what is in the present and begins to torment us by amplifying our anxiety or our fantasies.

The mind and all our knowledge are very useful, they help us to carry out our tasks, to accomplish our work, they are true practical companions in everyday life, but they have their own limits when it comes to appreciating the present moment for what it is.

When we are released from the demands of the mind, and live in the present moment, we perceive things in a new way. Colours, sounds and sensations are more penetrating, because the mental filter no longer intervenes, so we experience more peace and a deep love for all that is.

When we are totally present, it is the conscious part of us, attentive and vigilant to every subtlety that appears and which leads us to feel a deep peace. This is how we can look back on our past without guilt or complacency and project ourselves into the future in a serene and realistic way.

To be totally in the present moment, basically, is to get out of one’s thoughts and become aware of one’s body and accept to live here and now on Earth.

To be in the present moment is to be anchored, it is to be connected to the Earth, it is to feel connected.

Being rooted in the present moment allows us to feel this deep connection that exists between us and the Earth.

This feeling of belonging to something bigger than ourselves, allows us to be more easily in the acceptance of the present moment.

Anchoring is taking your consciousness out of your head and putting it in your feet.

Returning to the earthly, real, corporeal world, the world of matter.

It is to be fully in the physical world.

By practicing our presence, we develop our serenity, our confidence, and our feeling of security wherever we are or whatever situation we are going through.

We feel more confident, more solid on our feet.

If living in the present moment is important for everyone, it is even more important for people who think a lot, to come back to the present moment, to have more positive thoughts, to feel safe, to solve some achievement problems or the feeling of “going in circles”.

Living in the present moment is one of the best solutions to protect oneself from the pessimism of the moment and soothe one’s own personal anxieties!

As you will have understood, the benefits of living in the present moment are many and varied! The present moment has an advantage over all the others because it belongs to us!

But then how can we “practice” being in the present moment?

Here are some examples of techniques that will allow you to be more present so that you can be more aware of your needs:

• Associating the different types of memory (visual, kinesthetic, auditory): For example, saying out loud: “I’m opening my front door”.
• Eating with full consciousness, awakening your senses (smell, taste, sight…).
• Carry out a body scan: relax all parts of the body one after the other, in order to make all tensions disappear (paying particular attention to the following areas: neck, shoulders, lower back and legs).
• Meditation: meditating in full consciousness leads us to regain a state of being. We become a witness to our own thoughts and physical sensations. We welcome without judgment, unconditionally what manifests itself.
• Practising activities where the body and nature are involved (gardening, walks in the forest, in the countryside, in the mountains…).
• Walking in full consciousness and preferably barefoot.
• Practising yoga and breathing to feel your body and to anchor yourself in the ground.

N❤A❤M❤A❤S❤T❤E