Connect to the Present Moment
Have you ever noticed how often your brain is in a different place than your body?When you are in the shower do you notice the water hit your body? Are you aware of your breath? Or are you thinking about the list of things you need to get done today and how you are going to do them as efficiently as possible? Or are you going over an argument with a family member or daydreaming about your dream car?
If you’re anything like me, your answer is probably yes—your mind tends to wander almost everywhere except the present moment. For years, I thought this was just how my brain worked: an overactive mind. I never realized that I had the power to bring my mind into the present moment until I started reading and learning about mental health and how learning to be present can truly calm the body, mind and soul.
My initial exploration into this topic began when someone years ago told me something along the lines of, “anxious people live in the future and depressed people live in the past, people at peace live in the present moment.” This was the first time I had ever heard anything like it. I literally could not think of a time in my life when I was able to live in the present moment. My brain was always going a mile a minute and was basically everywhere else but the present. I assumed that was just how everyone’s brain worked.
As I explored this idea further, I learned that being present isn’t about magically silencing your thoughts—it’s about being aware of your wandering mind and gently guiding your focus back to the moment you’re in. For someone with a very over active mind it is not an easy task, however it is an achievable one when you become conscious of it. This gave me a sense of empowerment I’d never known was possible. For the first time, I began to believe that I could start to calm my overactive mind.
Mindfulness, I discovered, is a practice. It’s not something you master overnight but a skill you cultivate over time. It starts with simple things: noticing the feeling of warm water on your skin in the shower, the sound of your breath, or the way your feet feel against the ground as you walk, stopping to notice a beautiful flower. These small moments of awareness are the building blocks of learning to be fully present.
I went to a yoga festival a number of years ago and one of the sessions was a walking meditation. All we did was slowly walk and focus on being as present as possible, it was the first time I realized that meditation didn’t need to be sitting in silence. Meditation in many ways was about learning to be truly present. Sitting meditations had always been really difficult for me, so being able to do a walking meditation really helped me learn to be present and calm my nervous system. Which eventually helped me build skills to do seated meditations too.
Living in the present moment isn’t just about feeling calm—it’s about truly experiencing life. When your mind is constantly elsewhere, you miss the beauty and richness of the now. You miss the little joys that make up your day: the laughter of a loved one, the smell of fresh coffee, or the colors of the sunset.
For me, learning to be present has been truly transformative. It hasn’t silenced my overactive mind completely, but it’s given me tools I desperately needed to manage it. I’ve found moments of peace I never thought were possible, and I’ve learned to appreciate the here and now in a way I never could before.
