Being Mindful

We hear this all the time – be mindful, be present, and as Ram Dass says “Be Here Now”.
I practice yoga religiously and this seems to be the mantra I hear over and over again.
While I think I understand this philosophy, I need to put it in practice.  To “be here now” takes discipline of thought and quite a bit of hard work.  The results though, are worth it.  There is a direct correlation between being in the present, and happiness!

I recently heard a podcast on happiness and the scientific data behind it.  Over 70% of subjects studied definitely did “wander” in their minds while doing most any task – conversing, commuting to work, watching TV, exercising, and even during sex.  This rather large percentage of “mind wanderers” are being robbed of their current experience, transporting themselves to situations that have not happened, concerns and worries that might not ever happen, or situations that happened in the past.  Our minds are being invaded with the non present and at a great emotional cost.  How often your mind wonders is key in predicting your own personal happiness.

Why does being mindful, or being in the present moment, increase happiness?  Because being in the here now leaves no room for all the things that you cannot control, things down the road or things in the past.  These wandering thoughts are cancerous to all the energy that it takes to be in the now and robs you of the enjoyment of it.

The key to being mindful is the practice of it and that can be challenging.  This is what works for me.  I like to visualize wandering thoughts as objects that are contained in a room within my brain, similar to compartmentalization.  I actively visualize “shutting” the door on all these worries and concerns, and keeping it closed until that room needs to be cleaned – and by that I mean, dealt with.  If I’m dreading going back to work after an extended vacation, instead of letting that dread take away from enjoying my time off, I keep those thoughts about work in the spare bedroom and lock it.  The day when I return to work, I will have to open that door and deal with that issue, but not now.

Try this exercise as it really helps – if you are looking forward to having dinner with a friend you have not seen for a while, or if you are planning a nice long walk with a loved one, actively take all your concerns and worries and lock them up so you can just be here now!  It sounds so simple but it is very effective and the joy you receive from doing this actively and on an ongoing basis will be tenfold.

This is my resolution for 2017 – be mindful, be present, be here now.  Do not rob yourself of enjoying every last-minute of every day – stop poisoning your mind and your experiences of living in the present because as Ram Dass says “later never exists.”