Mindful of the present

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Poonam Srivastava [1]

As the New Year approaches and we bid adieu to another year, many of us reflect on how fast one more year has gone by. It is a good sign when you feel that time is passing by quickly because it shows that one is busy and preoccupied with life. This is a much better state compared to, say, those suffering from problems like depression, for whom time just drags.
But for many of us the fast pace of life doesn’t always feel like a blessing, often making us crave for a pause so we could find a finer connect with our experiences and enjoy every bit of life as it comes to us. The practice of mindfulness teaches us one such trick, a trick to live in the present moment, for the moment and by the moment. It helps us go deeper into every passing moment with meditative awareness and find the peak of satisfaction in every activity. When mundane daily chores or critical pauses are carried out with “mindfulness energy”, they become wholesome nourishment for our body and consciousness.
Mindfulness is a meditative practice that teaches us to live in the present moment because that alone is the truth of the context in which we live, away from the fears of an uncertain future or angst of painful past memories.
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment,” taught Buddha.
Easier said than practised, we might contend, as we are all too familiar with the wandering nature of our mind, which tends to swing between thoughts of the past and future, finding it very difficult to focus on the present. There are a few simple techniques that can help us develop our skill of focusing on the present moment. The breath is the easiest and permanently available anchor to our bodies and mind that can help bring us back to “mindfulness awareness” of the present moment. When you find yourself lost in mind games, the simple practice of watching your breath returns you to the present moment.
This can be done in many ways like putting your hand on your abdomen to experience the rise and fall of the diaphragm with every breath. I find this exercise very good as it literally pulls your focus away from the head to the lower part of our physical body, diluting the over-consuming “mind dominance” experienced by us. There are many other techniques that help in a similar fashion. We can feel the “in breath” and the “out breath” through our nostrils, which also breaks our nonstop mental thought parade.
You can even make this more interesting by using all kinds of anchors, like the ring of your telephone — it can be our meditation reminder bell, telling us to come back to ourselves in the present moment. Needless to say, there are many advantages of such practices for all generations. Students, working people and the aged can improve their power of focus and concentration through such practices.

Poonam Srivastava’s book T-Junction Crossing Over for Change has been published recently. She can be contacted at m4moment@gmail.com [2]