According to a study, people who live in the moment tend to be happier than their counterparts who allow their mind to wander every now and then. It also found that daydreaming or thinking ahead tends to make us more miserable, even if we are aware of it or not.
Little wonder, then, that any self-help guru you listen to would advise you to live in the present. These are experts who constantly remind us that instead of finding peace of mind – which is difficult – we should aspire to be at peace with our minds.
Want to know how you can do that? Here’s how:
#1: Let go of past hurts
Letting the past pains wander away from our minds is easier said than done. All of us have had experiences in the yesteryears which, try as much as we want, we find it difficult to banish from our minds. But removing such self-hurting feelings from our daily lives is needed if we wish to live in the present.
When we let go of bitterness and grudges, we are not only telling our mind to fixate its attention on the present moment. Researchers have linked letting go of past hurts to improved mental health, lower blood pressure and even a stronger immune system.
#2: Limit your screen time
When we are constantly scrolling on our smartphone – whether it is to find a meme an acquaintance posted yesterday or search for Clorox 360 disinfectant cleaner – we aren’t living in the moment. Instead, we’re caught up in something else.
Consequently, if you want to become mindful of the present moment, you might want to limit the time you spend on social media every day.
#3: Be thankful for the small things in life
Make sure you have an eye on the world around you. Living in the moment requires you to take notice – and be thankful – of everything that is good in your life. And in contrast to what some of us choose to believe, we don’t have to be successful to have good things in our life.
Instead, there are innumerable things in our daily life, like the electrostatic sprayer that disinfected our home, the presence of family around us in these times, which we can and should be thankful for. This behavior of gratitude, in turn, will shift our mind’s attention towards the present moment.