How to stay in the present moment is a very popular topic in the realms of spirituality and self-help. However, it is often misunderstood.
The present moment is always here. The only thing that keeps you from experiencing it consciously and fully are your thoughts. Thoughts of the past and future are what keep you out of the present moment.
If you can imagine having no thoughts for an extended period of time, you would be imagining yourself in a state of pure consciousness.
Being purely conscious is synonymous with staying in the present moment. When thoughts are not keeping you in the past or future, you are fully here now, conscious of everything in the present moment.
The hitch is that being purely conscious is easier said than done.
Our mind’s are a habitual phenomenon. Thoughts come and go, constantly ruminating and surfing all the subjects and issues of life that bring you concern or pleasure.
Don’t “Try” To Be In The Present Moment
If you try to stop your mind, the trying itself is the mind in movement, and you will surely find that it’s impossible to do so.
Trying to stay in the present moment won’t work either. Trying, as an act in itself, is something that inherently contains an expectation for the future, no matter how soon or far away that future may be.
In other words, if you try to stay in the present moment, you are trying for a future state, which means you are not fully grounded in the present moment.
Given the nature of the mind, learning how to stay in the present moment is a process that can take some time, but there is a framework to simplify it for you so that you can make some headway toward this aim.
Framework For How To Stay In The Present Moment
To become more present, you need to become purely conscious without the disruption of thoughts that don’t serve you. To do this, the following cyclical framework can help tremendously:
- Become aware of your own consciousness itself
- Let go of your psychological blocks to consciousness
For #1, consciousness itself is simply what is aware of all of the thoughts, emotions, and sensory input of your experience, and it is always present. By learning to be aware of your consciousness itself, you are training your brain to be conscious in the present moment.
There are a wide range of approaches to becoming aware of your own consciousness itself, but one example is the exercise found within this article: How To Find Yourself Through Awareness of Awareness
For #2, when you let go of your psychological blocks to consciousness, you are calming down the mind. This part of the process is essentially clearing your mind of the habitual thought patterns that constantly keep you in the past and future and out of the present moment.
There are a wide range of approaches to letting go of your psychological blocks to consciousness, which include psychological therapy, stream of consciousness journaling, spiritual teachings, purging, and a wide range of self-help approaches and techniques. The following article can expose you to a range of options: Approaches To Unblock Awareness
These two steps are done over time and do not have to be done in a particular order. Each step begets the other as when you become aware of consciousness itself, you are making it easier to find and let go of your psychological blocks to consciousness. When you let go of your psychological blocks to consciousness, you are making room to become aware of your consciousness itself.
Since this cyclical framework moves you toward an effortless “state” of pure consciousness without the disruption of thoughts that don’t serve you, it is what will gradually move you toward residing in the present moment. To learn more about this process from a high level, check out The Key To Self-Transformation. If you would like to get hands-on to learn about how to stay in the present moment by becoming purely conscious, join the Relatable Consciousness Email Program here (it’s free).