If you want to live a fulfilling life, then you need to learn how to mindfully live in the present…without neglecting your future. Here’s how.
For the past few years, mindfulness has been the buzzword in the mental health sphere.
It has been promoted as a way of life for continued wellness, and has been used as a primary treatment for mental health conditions.
Unfortunately, the speed at which the field has embraced mindfulness has drawn skepticism from some. As a result, I’m doing my best to help promote the benefits of mindfulness.
If you’re new to my work, hi there! I’m a bestselling author and happiness research geek – who also studied to be a yoga and meditation teacher. I’m passionate about helping people to develop the daily practice of mindfulness!
I believe that finally – after decades of the progression of Western psychology – the field of mental wellness is ready to embrace the ancient concept of mindfulness – which was developed many thousands of years ago in the East.
At the same time – unfortunately – there are still many cynics – who focus their skepticism on certain core aspects of mindfulness – which we’ll be exploring in this article.
It is easy to embrace mindfulness, if you have a comfortable life. But try telling someone living in poverty to choose to live fully in the moment. The criticism has become that mindfulness is a concept for privileged people who are disconnected from the struggles of most regular humans.
The thing is, that argument ignores the fact that mindfulness is not just used by wealthy socialites living in San Francisco. It originated in the East among people living with few to no material possessions. Today, it is used as primary treatment in mental health wards in hospitals in developing nations.
In other words, mindfulness is so effective that it has replaced traditional psychological strategies in treating people living in places in which poverty is widespread.
By living in the present, aren’t we neglecting the future?
The reason skeptics struggle with the concept of living in the present is that they mistake it with the idea of living for the present.
The former is a complex philosophical approach. The latter is little more than a shout of “YOLO!”
Living for the present implies forgetting about the future and trying to make the present as enjoyable as possible. Living in the present is not about enjoyment at all.
You are choosing to feel emotions, whether they are painful or pleasurable, even if your instinct is to numb them out.
But why would you do this? How does it improve your mental health?
Living in the present is not about forgetting about the past and future. That would be impossible.
Rather, it requires you to embrace the moment in all its difficulty.
You become more aware of the pain.
But mindfulness asks you to stop seeing it with judgment.
When you take away the judgment calls that you instinctively make, pain is no longer “bad” and pleasure is no longer “good.” It is all simply part of your vivid experience of existence.
After all, the purpose of pain is to draw your attention to something that is wrong.
When you are experiencing physical or mental pain, your instinct is to become hyper-aware and fearful of what might be wrong.
But after it has your attention, there is no need to focus on that fear any more.
It is a concept which takes a long time to fully comprehend – and is difficult to put into practice.
But it is also incredibly simple.
You’re not forgetting about the future.
You are simply living in the only time possible: now.
Its simplicity is what makes it an effective mental health treatment, even if its practitioners have not yet grasped the philosophical ins-and-outs.
Mindfulness puts you in a better position to plan for the future. And taking care of the things which are worrying you is also a form of self-care.
You should definitely spend time thinking about what you want in order to make decisions. And you should get a whole life insurance policy, health insurance, and other products which secure your future in a practical way.
But you can do this most effectively when you are at peace.
You can think about the future while living in the present. And thereby make decisions not based on your anxieties – but on the information that you can look at with a clear head.
You’ll learn a wide range of psychological and science-based relaxation and meditation techniques. You will quickly learn the art of staying calm – even in the midst of tough times.
Best of all, you get lifetime access when you enroll.
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