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Health & Fitness

Wish I Were Here

Next time you are having a good time, do you plan to be there? This blog is a reminder to live in the present moment. Doing so is good for your health.

“Having a great time. Wish I were here." I saw this quote on a postcard a long time ago, and it always stuck with me. How often are you at a party, going about your daily life, or even on vacation (!), but you are not really there? Perhaps you are still in yesterday thinking about the fight you had with your spouse or maybe you are in tomorrow worrying about your big presentation. Living in the present sounds so simple, but is actually quite challenging. Ruminating about what happened in the past seems to come so naturally, doesn’t it? And, with so many demands on our time, it is hard not to be thinking about the future and all that needs to be done. How can we get it to feel more natural to just be in this moment?

Try it now. As you are reading this blog, recognize that you are taking the time and reading a blog. Notice where you are sitting, how your body is feeling, and what sounds you hear. Read the words on the screen and just be in the moment of reading. You have decided to take time out to read this blog (thank you), so try to be with it fully for the next few minutes. If you are doing other things in addition to reading this—such as listening to music, watching TV, or eating—try doing just the one thing of reading. Mindfulness is about being conscious of the present moment in all that you do, filling your body's senses with what you are experiencing at the present moment.

Test it out a few times a day. You can do it while washing the dishes, making the bed, walking the dog, eating a meal, or in any other moment of the day. Pay attention to your senses in the moment. What do you feel, hear, taste, see, and smell? The beauty of mindfulness is that it can be done anywhere and anytime. It is at our disposal whenever we want to try it out. The more we do it, the more we encourage health and wellness by breaking the cycle of the chronic state of stress that has become our daily lives.

Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now says that the present moment is where we find our joy and are able to embrace our true selves. He says it is here that we discover we are already complete and perfect. The beauty is that this is fully in our reach. We just have to simply be. Here. Now.

Next time I'm having a great time, I plan to be there. How about you?

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Dina Colman is a health writer and consultant. She has her MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University and will graduate with a Master’s degree in Holistic Health Education in June 2011 from John F. Kennedy University. She founded FourQuadrantLiving.com, a website providing information on healthy living through nourishment of the four quadrants of our lives—mind, body, relationships, and environment. This blog is from the Mind quadrant. Contact Dina at dina@fourquadrantliving.com

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