Living the Moment and Defeat the Constant Worry

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

The Secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, nor to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

~ Buddha

Often we find ourselves thinking and worrying about the future. Another thing you may notice about the thoughts pattern ~ Most of the time the thought patterns are negative in nature which causes worry and stress. Living in the moment may be the solution to the problem of constant worry.

For those of you who are not habituated to observing your thoughts, just try this simple 10 minute exercise. Sit quietly and start observing your breathing. The task is very simple in nature. You just need to observe the breath. Observe that you are breathing in; then breathing out. Keep on observing the in and out movement of the breath.

The chances are that you would soon start thinking of something else and stop the observation. As soon as become aware that you have stopped observing the breath, bring back the awareness to the breathing. This is a good starting point to meditation.

You will observe that there are two kinds of thoughts ~ Either about the past events or about the future anticipated events. Many of the past events about which you think could be the negative events like someone hurting you, or saying something unpleasant. When these thoughts pass the mind, you would then start thinking about how you would deal with the person next time he/she hurts you and what you may tell that person. We then start getting angry and tense. These is the exact problem that happens when we do not live in the moment. We keep on reacting to the past and future events and that breeds unhappiness and creates suffering.

When we live in the moment and just focus on the current tasks, we are benefited in two ways - the task on hand gets done really well and results would be there for you to see; and during those moments just think of the task and not about the results and would feel less stressed. When this happens again and again you come to know the value of living in the moment more and more.

When you do not live the moment, you tend to be in hurry to complete as many tasks as possible in the shortest possible time. We may start thinking that we may miss some important tasks. Nature also does every thing so slowly yet so beautifully. It is not in a hurry to create. Everything gets done. Similarly when we start doing something which is important and just focus on that you can get much more done in lesser time.

The above mentioned breath observation exercise is part of Vipassana course which is a life changing 10 day course held all over the world. These teaching were originally taught by the Buddha and are relevant even today.

Some simple tips on Living the Moment

• While working on a task in the office, disconnect the email till you finish the task.
• You can also keep the phone on mute and let it go to voice mail and respond later.
• While practicing yoga just focus on the current pose. Then bring the focus on the particular muscles.
• Practice breath observation everyday for some time.
• Practice Silence.
• Try to do only one task at a time. For example while eating do not watch TV.

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