The Art of Being Present
A simple concept, yet one many of us take for granted.
It’s already late February and spring is right around the corner, but it feels early enough in the year where new year’s resolutions and the aroma of fresh personal goals are still in the air. One saying you commonly see people refer to every January 1 is the goal to worry less about distractions and live more in the present.
For a long time, I thought I understood what “being present” meant. I mean, I’m always living in the present, aren’t I? Over the past few weeks, my schedule got slightly hectic. You know, the usual saying yes to lots of things and trying to tackle more-than-you-can-handle type of hectic. Baseball season was starting back up, which meant multiple practices a week and multiple parents asking to schedule lessons for their son. Simultaneously, I was working on launching some new segments for my music blog. All great things — but a lot to do.
Though I never viewed it as a chore, at the center of my to-do list was this 30 Day Writing Challenge I committed to almost exactly a month ago. The premise of the challenge, of course, was to write and publish an article every day — a consuming task that would require lots of time and thought. Looking back on the last 29 days of writing, I’ve done some reflecting on what exactly it means to be present and how it impacts us as we go about our day.
It wasn’t until recently that this phrase — “being present” — resonated with me on a deeper level. In doing this writing challenge, there was a point during every single day, whether early in the morning, after lunchtime, or late at night, where I was forced to sit down, confront my thoughts, and put my fingers to the keyboard. There wasn’t any way around it. When I sat down to write, I was forced to be present.
You would think living in the moment is an intuitive concept, but with the number of distractions we deal with daily, it’s not as easy as it seems. Being present demands effort, kindness, and understanding. It requires an emotional investment. When we try to juggle too many things at once, it becomes impossible to fully invest ourselves in each thing we undertake. That’s not to say we should not immerse ourselves in multiple endeavors because following different pursuits creates the opportunity to gain perspective and experience. So how can we allow ourselves to truly appreciate the life we live when we are constantly looking to push fast-forward and rush to the next thing?
Over the past few weeks, as I went from task to task, I often questioned whether I would be able to complete the next item on my agenda or if I would have enough time to get ahead on something to save me stress later.
Amid all the frantic thoughts, I had to remember to pause and take a deep breath.
It’s such a simple concept, yet one many of us take for granted. It sounds cheesy, but at the end of the day, all we have guaranteed is the present moment. Our thoughts and our attitudes deserve better than to be pushed into worrying about something that happened yesterday or has yet to take place.
This writing challenge has motivated me to be more present every day, no matter what I do. If I am at practice, my head and my heart should be there too. If I’m coordinating coverage for new music, that should have my focus and my spirit. And if I’m writing about my life, I should treat each word carefully and with respect.
Here’s to being more present in 2020 and beyond.
