Bringing the Busy Mind to the Here and Now to Enjoy True Happiness

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You are on holidays and you are already planning the next one. You have started a new job and you are already looking for a new one. You are on your lunch break and instead of enjoying your meal you’re planning the shopping list for tomorrow or worrying about something that might happen in the future or maybe thinking about what went wrong yesterday…

Basically your mind is always full of random thoughts that stop you from enjoying a sense of inner peace.

If that sounds like you, then this episode is perfect for you!

In this episode:

– How does the mind get so busy?

– Why true happiness can only happen in the here and now.

– Tricks to be more present, quiet the mind and enjoy inner peace.

Enjoy!

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

(Please note this is not an exact transcript of the episode, it is more like a script, there are more detailed explanations and insights in the actual podcast!)

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Positive Mindset Tribe!

Today’s episode is dedicated to the busy minds out there, so if you feel like your mind is always way too busy with random thoughts, worries, if you feel like you are always living in the future planning ahead or thinking about what happened in the past and all those thoughts stop you from enjoying what’s actually happen in the here and now, and you could do with a bit of calming the mind and being more present, this episode is for you.

This episode will come with an additional present, a guided meditation for the busy minds! Some people have asked me about my meditations and why they are not part of the podcast, and I thought well that is so true, I should be uploading these meditations that are so healing and powerful!

So from now on you will see that some episodes will have the traditional format with step-by-step practical tips and other episodes will be just the guided meditation so you can just press play and follow along.

Before we start, a reminder that I’m taking on new clients for my healing coaching programme ‘Step Into Your Power’, I just came back from my third and last trip this year and I’m back with a lot of motivation, fresh energy, so expect a lot of content the next few months. I’m taking on new 1:1 clients for my ‘Step Into Your Power’ healing coaching programme so if you want to find out more about how I can help you master your confidence so you can create a life of joy and purpose book a free confidence booster session and let’s find out if this is the right thing for you and in any case you will leave the session with a boost of confidence and clear next steps for your personal transformation journey.

I will leave the links in the description.

So back to today’s episode, this is what I will be covering:

How does the mind get so busy?
Why true happiness can only happen in the here and now
Tricks to be more present, quiet the mind and enjoy inner peace

HOW DOES THE MIND GET SO BUSY?

There are two factors that are enemies of being present in the here now.

One is that in this day and age we are exposed to so much stimuli, notifications on the phone, tablet, the radio, you get on the tube and it’s all full of screens, commercials, announcements, we are always rushing, running from one activity to the next one, we don’t allow ourselves time to stop and to connect with ourselves. So we can spend the whole day in the hamster wheel, completely disconnected from ourselves, just doing doing doing or if for whatever reason we have the chance to sit down on a bus for 30 minutes then we are thinking thinking thinking what we are going to do next. What went wrong yesterday, the shopping list, negative thoughts about yourself, worries about the future, your mind can create the most random thoughts!

And another one is that sometimes we create distractions because when we connect with ourselves it’s uncomfortable. For example if you just sit in the park, instead of enjoying the views and the sounds of the birds, the stillness might bring to your awareness that you are sad or angry about something that happened in the past, you might feel anxious about work, maybe you feel so frustrated because you won’t stop arguing with your partner, so to avoid these uncomfortable feelings, we turn on the music, we go on social media to watch a funny video, we call a friend to plan something for the weekend so we can continue to be distracted and detached from what’s going on inside.

Why is this important?

BECAUSE TRUE HAPPINESS CAN ONLY HAPPEN IN THE HERE AND NOW

Knowing how to live in the present moment is the only way to be happy, the here and now is the only moment there is, if you weren’t present, you missed it, it’s never coming back.

Then you are not living in the present.

Life happens in the here and now. The moment you are thinking about something that went wrong in the past, a memory, you are living in the past. The moment you are worrying or planning you are living in the future. And you’re missing the moment when life actually happens, the here and now.

I have to say that this has been a very difficult lesson for me, and I still need to remind myself to stop thinking ahead and just be. And I have to say that when I feel truly happy and fulfilled is in those really simple moments when I’m just present, when my awareness is completely on the here and now. Regardless of what I’m doing, but those moments when I can let go of my thoughts, when I don’t engage with the busy mind and I just breathe and I’m not doing, not thinking, just BEING, it is truly blissful. For me this happens a lot in meditation but also sometimes when I’m sitting on a bench in the park and I’m just looking at the trees, listening to the birds, not thinking what I have to do next, not looking at what other people at doing, just enjoying the scenery. For me it also happens when I’m dancing, and I’m so connected with the music or with my partner if I’m dancing with someone, that time just flies I’m not thinking about the shopping list or the world problems, I’m just dancing and I’m fully present in every second of it.

So really it is not about WHAT you are doing, but HOW PRESENT you are while you’re doing it.

You can be sitting in the park being really present and mindful and be in absolute bliss or you can be sitting on the same bench worrying about your job and you’re living in the future.

You can be in a salsa class having the time of your life connecting with the music, lost in the rhythm or you can be in the same class not listening to a word of what the teacher is saying because you’re checking your phone to see if that guy has messaged you.

So it is all about where your awareness is.

When you go through life like you’re in the hamster wheel, disconnected from yourself, always worrying or stuck in the past, not savouring the little things, always thinking ahead it might be a sign of dissatisfaction or unresolved issues that you want to avoid – those uncomfortable feelings I mentioned before that we normally try to avoid.

Now, by living in the present and enjoying the present moment I’m not saying that we should just focus on having fun all the time and not make plans for the future, that’s not what I mean.

Actually, when you are clear on your direction, on your purpose, it is much easier to live in the present because you know that you are doing the right thing and you can just do it and be fully concentrated, knowing that you are doing the right thing and not getting bored or questioning what you’re doing all the time, which would take us to living in the future.

Having goals for the future, and plans, that is great but there needs to be a balance between having a clear direction, making wise decisions and not living our life to chance and spend your life planning and spending your life thinking about what is next and miss what you have today.

TRICKS TO CALM THE BUSY MIND AND BE MORE PRESENT

1.The most effective trick I can think of is meditation. Because meditation is all about awareness, is about not getting caught in our thoughts, it is about bringing our awareness to the here and now. Note that I didn’t say remove our thoughts or leave the mind blank, I said ‘not get caught in them’.

So let me share with you a very easy meditation practice you can do and it will only take a few minutes a day.

Set a timer for a few minutes, close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Just observe how the air enters and leaves the body, allowing the body to relax. Thoughts will appear immediately – ‘this is so silly’, ‘I forgot to buy tomatoes’, ‘I wish I had a better job’, ‘I can’t believe my boyfriend hasn’t messaged me at all today!’. That’s fine, instead of engaging with them and feeding the thought, let it go like a cloud disappearing in the sky, or like bubbles that pop up and disappear.

Do it every day, train your mind to calm down, more importantly, train yourself to not be controlled by your busy mind. Because it is impossible to not have any thoughts, that’s not the idea. The idea is that you sit in your power and become in control. There is a big difference between getting caught in a thought and observing a thought.

I’m going to record a meditation for this purpose, so that will be the next episode!

The more time you can spend in this awareness, being present in the here and now without your thoughts controlling you, the happier you will be.

2.Make decisions that are aligned with your true self and your purpose. Like I mentioned before, if you’re always thinking about what’s coming next, it might be a sign that you are not fulfilled or not living in alignment with your values. I remember when I was working in banking I would spend my days counting the days until the next bank holiday, the next trip, the next day off. Cause I was so unfulfilled that days felt just soooooooooo long. I was always fantasising what I would do if I won the lottery, what would be my next role, Mondays and Tuesdays I lived in the past missing the weekend and the rest of the weekend dreaming of the weekend. What a way to live!

3.Do the inner work to resolve past issues. Another sign of always being distracted and not in the present is when we spend a lot of time either thinking about what happened to us in the past or just avoiding our emotions, and this is so unhealthy. So don’t be afraid to go deep within and to heal and let go of what is no longer serving you, because otherwise you are never going to be fully present with yourself. I have also experienced this, when I was much younger I was completely disconnected from my emotions, because I had experienced so much pain in my childhood and teenager years that I created a wall of ice really. So I always had to keep myself occupied, working, doing something, being with someone, being on my own with nothing to do was not an option for me, and I wasn’t even aware of it, I just do it as an unconscious defense mechanism. It was only when I opened the Pandora box and cried all I had to cry, and healed many parts of myself that I could be comfortable with myself.

4.Anything you do, do it mindfully. If you’re eating your lunch, don’t do it while you’re typing on your computer, enjoy the flavours. If you’re going for a walk in nature, be mindful of the scenery around you, don’t be on whatsapp or social media checking what other people are doing.

5.Find an activity that brings you to the here and now. For me this is dancing. For someone else it could be painting, knitting, singing, reading, whatever works for you.

6.Have a clear direction in life. This might sound like a bit of a contradiction – doesn’t having a direction in life sound like planning and thinking about the future rather than being in the present moment? I think they are totally compatible. And actually for me, having a clear direction and plans, helps me stay focused and present in my day to day life. For example, yesterday, I spend the afternoon planning the month ahead, and the week, so I knew that today the first thing I had to do was record this episode, then the meditation, then promote it, then decide about the group courses I’m going to run in September. Which again, thinking about the courses I’m going to run in September is thinking about the future. But all this planning helps me stay focused today. I know what I’m meant to be doing, and I can be fully concentrated on recording this podcast, you have my full attention here, this is something I love and I’m in my element, so I can be fully dedicated to it without getting distracted. But the weeks when I haven’t had a plan and I’ve been just improvising what to do, I have been very distracted thinking of different ideas, visualising what I could do but not actually doing much, you see? So sometimes the lack of plan or the lack of direction is what can cause our mind to worry, to stress and stop us from living the present moment.

OK my loves, that’s all for me for today, feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions for future episodes. If you liked this episode please subscribe to the podcast and share it with your loved ones,

Sending love and light to you all, bye for now!

Bye for now!

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Hi, I’m Verónica, a Confidence Coach, Energy Healer, Counsellor, Meditation Teacher & Founder of The Positive Mindset Tribe Podcast.

My mission is to help women on a spiritual journey to break free from the conditioning of their past, rediscover their true self, grow their confidence and reclaim their power so they can create a joyful life that feels authentic and is aligned with their Soul’s purpose.

I have a unique approach to healing and self-development which combines the results-orientated approach of Coaching, the therapeutic background of Humanistic Integrative Counselling and a toolbox of powerful Meditation and Energy Healing techniques (including Theta Healing, Pranic Healing and Shamanic Energy Medicine).

If you are feeling stuck and could do with a boost of clarity and confidence, I’m offering some free confidence booster sessions that would be perfect for you!