This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
I’m not sure if this happens to everyone, but sometimes I feel like I miss out on a lot because I’m not fully present. I’m not referring to being physically present in situations or places; by being present, I mean giving my full attention to whatever activity I’m engaged in at the moment. For instance, I may be reading a book, and few pages later, I find myself totally sidetracked by thinking about how I need to solve Situation X or Situation Y at work. So, I have to re-read the same page multiple times until I can finally focus on it. Or I may be talking to someone, and at some point I realize I’m not paying attention to what they’re saying because I’ve been daydreaming.
Yes, I know this is embarrassing stuff to admit! But I like to expose the things that I’m working to improve because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one experiencing them. Let me tell you how I got interested in this whole concept of being present.
As you may know, I love meditating. And as you may also know, one of the principles of meditation is becoming aware of the beauty of being present. I’ve been meditating for almost two years, and I have to confess that I pretended to understand the real importance of being present as a key practice. But the truth is that I just recently started to slowly get it. This is the reason I always tell everyone who says they’ve tried meditation for few days and dropped it because they weren’t “good” at it that there is no right or wrong way to practice meditation. The most beautiful thing about meditation is that the practice itself is the trophy. You don’t need to pass a final test or win the end game. The only requirement to “win” at meditating is to keep practicing.
Okay, okay, I’m not trying to sell you meditation in this post, but if you give it a good try, I promise you it will be the best gift you can give yourself . Back to my main subject!
A few weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to go with my best friend to a mystery picnic. She loves picnics, so she found this great company that arranges a fun game where people collect the food they need for a picnic by solving clues that take them to different restaurants around a small area of the city. It’s a really fun experience! When I said my morning prayer that day, I asked God to help me to stay present because I really wanted to enjoy the day. And you know how God always listens to our desires!
As soon as we finished collecting all the food and were ready to sit in the park to enjoy the picnic, we realized the park was totally packed since it was the day before the Super Bowl. It was also only open to people with tickets for the events the park was hosting that day. So, we decided to take an Uber to go to a beautiful, less-crowded part of the city. When we got out of the Uber, I realized I had left my phone in the car, but it was too late to run after it. We called my number multiple times, but the driver did not pick up the phone. I told my friend, “Okay, let’s just go and keep enjoying the day.” I couldn’t help but smile, as I knew this was God’s way of helping me to stay present.
At that point, we were really hungry, so we headed to the park that was our second option, only to find out it was closed as well! We started laughing out loud! What were the odds?
Thank goodness I was really familiar with that part of town! I told her, “I know where we can go!” We walked for a little more than 10 minutes and found a beautiful spot with a bench right in front of the bay, where we enjoyed an amazing, modified picnic (no grass and blankets) with the most beautiful view you can imagine. I was present the whole time. Not having my phone forced me to keep my awareness totally open. We talked, laughed, and were grateful for the moment.
I was able to get my phone back that night, but I was so happy I didn’t have it for that period of time because it made me realize how beautiful it is to stay present. That simple action of removing one of the biggest distractors of all helped me be aware of my desire to be present. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that our phones are evil tools. I’m very grateful for everything I’m able to do with my phone. All I’m saying is that in order to stay present, we need to take action. We need to make the effort to pay attention. Sometimes, that means we need to remove the distractors, whatever they may be.
Why am I sharing this with you today? Well, because since that day I have committed to be as present as possible, and I am loving the results of this practice. I guess we get so lost in our daily routines, distractions, and our own minds, that we really don’t have any idea how many things we miss while wandering around everywhere else but the present moment.
It is really beautiful to fully enjoy moments and situations with all our attention. It’s one thing is to read about it and think that we get the concept, but the beauty of really being present cannot be described with words. You need to feel it to understand it!
I hope you all “lose” your phones for a moment if that helps you to enjoy the feeling of staying present the same way it helped me!
Love,
Irene
