Tips For Being More Present In Your Life For Better Mental Health

Many people want to live in the moment, but thisit can be difficult to accomplish in practice. Between obsessing over the past and worrying about the future, the present moment is often lost. 

Through intentional exercises, like mindfulness, meditation, monotasking, yoga, journaling, or mindful walking, many people experience increased clarity, reduced stress, and greater appreciation for the small moments that make each day special. 

What does it mean to live in the present?

Living in the present refers to a state of awareness of the current moment, which is commonly the focus of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation practices.

Within the context of the present moment, time does not exist. As Abhijit Naskar, author of Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost, explains, “Time is basically an illusion created by the mind to aid in our sense of temporal presence in the vast ocean of space. Without the neurons to create a virtual perception of the past and the future based on all our experiences, there is no actual existence of the past and the future. All that there is, is the present.” Throughout history, philosophers, physicists, and psychologists have been studying the concept of the present moment. 

Benefits of being present 

Researchers have repeatedly found that being mindful of the present can lead to the following benefits: 

• Reduced rumination, stress, and anxiety
• Lower stress 
• Lower blood pressure
• Easier to fall asleep at night
• Improved attention and focus on the task at hand 
• Better working memory
• Increased ability to enjoy the present moment
• More effective emotional regulation
• Greater self-insight and relationship satisfaction 

Even if being present doesn’t come naturally to you, thisit’s likely a worthy endeavor has many potential benefits. 

Why you might be stuck in the past or anticipating the future

People tend to spend a lot of time studying the past, trying to avoid risk in the future, or looking forward to events. There’s nothing wrong with examining the past or anticipating the future, but it can become an overwhelming and draining cycle that exacerbates stress and anxiety. The following circumstances often make it challenging to break free from this cycle:  

• Past trauma: Many people who’ve experienced trauma find it particularly hard to move on from the past. They may experience recurrent reminders of the trauma or fixate on how they could take actions in the future to protect themselves. 
• Chronic stress: If you’re always worried about a deadline at work, conflict in your family, finances, or something else, it can be difficult to stop fixating on the future. 
• Counterfactuals: Counterfactual, or “what if,” thinking revolves around what may have gone differently if certain actions had been changed. 
• Anxiety: A common characteristic of anxiety is excessive worry or fear about future events.  
• Depression: People experiencing depressive disorders commonly ruminate about the past.  
• High-conflict personalities: People with insecure attachments or certain personality disorders often have a difficult time moving on from conflict to acceptance. For this reason, they may repeatedly bring up past events that others have moved on from. 

Let your mind focus on the present moment

People who tend to focus on the present moment may experience greater wellbeing and life satisfaction. However, even if you often find yourself ruminating or worrying, you can experience benefits from working towards a more present life. According to Dr. Nathan Brown, “When trying to focus, you’re going to get distracted and that’s OK. Your mind can wander 50 times but as long as you redirect it 51, you will come out of the experience with a little stronger muscle.”

Strategies to help you live in the moment

Have you ever found yourself watching TV while absentmindedly scrolling through social media on your phone, eating a snack, talking to your partner, and texting with a friend? If you have, you might want to try using these strategies to calm the distractions and help you focus on the present: 

Helpful tips for being more present in your life

Consider these helpful tips:

• Practice mindfulness and/or meditation: Pay attention to your senses

Mindfulness and meditation are evidence-based techniques that can help you stay centered on the present moment. As said by Amit Ray, Ph.D. and author of Om Chanting and Meditation, “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” 

While both practices have similarities, mindfulness emphasizes present awareness of bodily sensations, whereas meditation prioritizes slowing the wandering of the mind. You can practice meditation and mindfulness separately, or you can practice them together through mindful meditation. 

To try mindfulness meditation for yourself, go for a walk and pay attention to your senses. Ask yourself the following questions: “What do I smell?”, “What do I hear?”, “How does the ground feel against my feet?”, and “What do I hear?” When you get distracted, notice your thoughts, and then take a moment to focus on your breath before returning to your senses. 

Other mindfulness exercises

Other mindfulness exercises to try include body scans, intention setting exercises, mindful acceptance, or the raisin exercise. 

• Yoga: Strength and flexibility

Yoga practices are often grounded in the present moment, with movements returning to the breath or participants noticing how their body feels without judgement or expectation. A study on the therapeutic effects of yoga found that yoga classes can reduce stress, anxiety, and chronic pain, while improving overall wellbeing and quality of life. 

• Breathwork: Conscious breathing techniques

Breathing exercises can be an effective and efficient way to bring yourself back to the present moment. There are many different conscious breathing techniques you can try, but here’s one you can get started with: 

Find a comfortable seated position. 

Take a slow, deep breath through your nose for five seconds. 

Exhale through your mouth slowly for six seconds. 

Complete this exercise a few times. And, while you’re breathing, pay attention to how your body is feeling. For example, notice the sound of your breath or the sensation of relaxing through your diaphragm.

• Physical activity: Biking, walking, and more

Many studies support the mental health benefits of exercise. For example, one study found that exercising just once can improve mood and ability to focus, while reducing rumination and tiredness. Consider getting some mindful movement by going for a walk in your neighborhood without looking at your phone, joining your friends for a bike ride, or signing up for an exercise class. 

• Put down your phone: Regulate phone usage

Texting, social media, notifications, and alarms can take you away from the present moment. Consider setting rules, such as not using your phone before breakfast, turning off non-emergency notification sounds, or putting your phone on “do not disturb” mode while you’re working. 

• Try “monotasking”. Complete one activity before moving on to the next

According to Harvard Health Publishing, multitasking makes us more easily distracted, less productive, and more error prone. Additionally, multitasking may lead to chronic stress and poor mental health outcomes. 

When you monotask, you complete one activity before moving on to the next one, which reduces strain on your working memory, lowers the likelihood of distraction, makes it easier to stay present, and helps manage stress. You can start incorporating monotasking into your routine by shortening your daily to-do list, using defined time blocks to focus on a single activity, and taking frequent mental breaks for meditation or a mindfulness walk. 

• Journal about it: Write down your thoughts and emotions

When you find yourself dwelling on past events or worrying about the future, consider writing down your thoughts and feelings. After you’ve finished writing, read over what you said, and consider incorporating a more balanced perspective. 

• Find your flow: Do activities that brings you accomplishment

TED Talk presenter, Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist who studies motivation. According to his Ted Talk, “How to stop languishing and start finding flow,” flow is a sensation of total absorption in an activity. Through mastery, mindfulness, and mattering (knowing that what you’re doing makes a difference to other people), people can reach a state of flow that grounds them in the present. 

To find your flow, explore hobbies, volunteer opportunities, or challenging projects that can bring you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. 

Can therapy help you live in the present and address mental health challenges? 

If you’ve found yourself ruminating endlessly on the past or worrying constantly about the future, you might find it helpful to work with a therapist. A therapist can help you address underlying mental health challenges that are making it difficult to be present, and they can show you tools to release them. 

CBT to reduce symptoms of mental health disorders

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of goal-oriented therapy that can help you reframe unhelpful thought patterns, incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine, and use problem-solving skills to improve thoughts, feelings, and behavior. When done online, a 2017 review of 373 peer-reviewed articles found that CBT can effectively reduce symptoms of mental disorders that make it difficult to stay present, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive  obsessive compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. 

Aside from being effective for many people, online CBT is often a more convenient option than in-person therapy. For example, when using the online therapy platform, BetterHelp, clients can schedule sessions outside of normal business hours, and they can attend sessions from the comfort of home.