In the last of the foundation posts we come back to something that was touched on in curation. This element of our life is critical to achieving and to appreciating our best life.

Presence

To be present is to have our minds in what we are doing and what we are sensing right now. It is to be fully engaged with the person that we are talking to. It is to capture the smells of the trees in the forest and the feel of the grass under our feet. It is the taste of the peach. It is also the soap and the bubbles in our washing up water. The words in the email we are typing. The air the we breathe.

To be present is getting harder. Our brains are wired to be aware of and manage risk. This and it’s related negative bias has our brains churning through possible future outcomes which were just not part of the human existence through our evolution.

We also have an inbuilt addiction to certain chemicals, in particular dopamine. Dopamine is what keeps us scrolling on social media and it is part of the reason that our smartphones are such a distraction.

We can help ourselves with some simple habits.

1. Keep our phones out of reach when we are not actual using it – especially when in conversations with others
2. Go for a walk in nature, without our phone – yes we may miss a photo but the imprints in our memory are more important
3. Complete mindfulness sessions throughout the day – we recommend four or five 2 minute sessions and one ten minute session every single day
4. Every hour take some a few minutes to just pause and consider every sense even if sat at the desk or out at work – what can we see around us, what can we smell, what can we hear, feel, are we warm or cold?

To be present takes more effort than you would believe but presence is what allows us to properly interact with others, it’s the essence of enjoying every minute and has an impact on our sense of time and our ability to create memories.