Picture the scenario - you jump in the car to drive to the store. Suddenly you realise you’ve driven somewhere else, and have no recollection how you got there. Or you look at the clock and it’s 10 a.m.; you look again in what feels like 10 minutes and you’ve somehow “lost” an hour.

Maybe you are in a hurry and just want to get to your destination, not paying attention to your surroundings.

Or you rush around, eating your lunch at your work desk, or racing through your dinner without tasting it.

I get it. Life is busy. We are occupied and preoccupied, our thinking processes hooked onto the next ‘to do’. We go into automatic mode just to get things done, not wanting to expand too much energy or attention.

Our attempts to plow on through are stealing from us. How? They remove the ability to savor. To observe the moment and experience life as it happens, something which boosts our minds and bodies.

Some of us find mindfulness easier than others, either by natural disposition or by a habitual process of applying it and working at it. Basically, whether you think it’s easy or a bit more effort - you CAN do it. Search out the satisfaction in the little things. The bright spots in the dark. Those faint glimmers shining in the mundanity of the regular.
I’m not talking about optimism for future circumstances, but what little thing can you notice now? For me, I find the outdoors a great focus, whether that be going for a walk, or looking up from my screen and taking a moment to watch the wind move the trees or the snowflakes swirl down. Or enjoying the aroma of my coffee and consciously making my shoulders drop to where they should be. It’s not even necessary to stop what you are doing - just notice the process more. You even have permission to do it while reading this blog post!

Just. For. A. Moment.

Like a butterfly effect, these small moments, this ability of being present during our “doings” and turn them into “beings”; these have a cumulative effect.

The better we become at living in the now, in a better balance with our past and future, the more positively our self-esteem, optimism, feelings of inner strength are impacted.