The first rule of focus is ”Wherever you are be there.” Author Unknown

I have two dogs and do my best to take good care of them: I walk them twice a day, feed them, groom them and take them to the vet if they are ill. I also take time to play with them, roll on the floor and throw a ball while my mind storms through the deadlines, phone calls I have to make, dreams I want to fulfill. I do that unconsciously, mind slips into the ‘figuring out’ mode, takes me away into the future or past events and although I am physically present, in reality I am not. Whenever that happens both dogs simply stop playing and retreat, they actually behave as if I am not there.

Did anything similar ever happen to you? Were you ever at a party worried about tomorrow’s meeting and suddenly realize that people just disappeared? Did you ever try to calm your child down but it just doesn’t stop crying and the more you think about the proposal you have to write the more child cries? If the answer is yes, next time you get into the similar situation stop doing whatever you are doing and breathe! Bring yourself to this moment and live it fully because that is what makes you alive.  Develop skill of being present (focused, mindful) each and every moment (not only during meditation – bring that state into everything you do) and observe how life unfolds.

Simple technique to bring yourself to the present moment

Place hand on your heart and focus on your breath. Ask yourself: What is the quality of my breath? How deep is it? What is going on in my body in order for that breath to have its full cycle? And what about this breath? And the next?

Further questions to engage yourself in present moment:

What do I see right now?

What do I smell right now?

What do I hear right now?

How do I feel right now? (remain with the feeling even if it is uncomfortable and keep breathing. Observe how feeling ‘travels’ through your body)

The problem that I am thinking of – can I solve it right now?

This thought that I have – is it related to past, present or future? (if it is related to past or future just let it go and pretend to be Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With the Wind – “I’ll think about it tomorrow”)

Dan Millman’s Law of Presence: Time is a paradox stretching between a “past” and “future” that have no reality except in our own minds. The idea of time is a convention of thought and language, a social agreement. Here is the deeper truth: We have only this moment.