Sometimes knowing what something is not helps us understand what something is. This is especially true with being present. Because not being present can be a way to shut down our awareness to past traumas, we can be in a state where we are also shutdown to the present moment. Not being present works great when you want to avoid past feelings, but it also keeps you on auto pilot and you cannot enjoy the great feelings you enjoy when you are fully aware of your current experience.
The way the mind avoids thoughts of past negative experiences is by keeping busy with thoughts of anything and everything that will distract you emotionally. You will keep your mind busy with your everyday thoughts and lose touch with the present moment. Those past negative experiences do surface, but they appear as thoughts that we repeat that keep you living in your past fears or regrets and or your worries about the future. You also keep your body constantly busy, so you have no time to have a quiet moment to face unhealed loss or trauma.
Here is a short list of examples of living in your head and NOT being present:
You are constantly living in your mind. You are always living in the plans and fantasies of the future.
You constantly feel that when you get that thing you desire in the future, then you will be happy.
You play out conflicts in your mind that may never actually happen.
You are forgetful or lose track of what you were in the middle of. Sometimes you are not even sure how you got to where you are.
Your thoughts race at night and you have problems sleeping.
You try to cram too many activities in one day.
You make up stories in your mind that cause conflicts in yourself and with others.
Many may say that this is the way most of us must live our lives just to make a living and take care of all our responsivities. This may be how we feel, but this is not living it’s surviving. NOT being present helps us survive but Being Present allows us to live.
I will next talk about how to start to live a life being present in the upcoming blog posts. The practice of being present has many layers and I plan to explore these in my writings.
Best of all there is a BEE Present Podcast that posts commentary and information more regulary related to the monthly theme of the blog posts. This channel on YouTube is a great way to give more insights on how to define being present and how it should look in our lives.
Peace and BEE Present!!
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