Tips to cultivate presence in your life
Why do I need to care about becoming present in my body?
Well let me start by saying that if you are reading this post and want to learn about “becoming present in your body“, CONGRATULATIONS!! You have officially just taken the first major step to healing your mind, body and soul.
So, why should anybody care about being present in their body ? And what does it mean ?
The number one reason to care is that unless you can fully become present in your body, you will always be distracted and feel doubtful about every single decision in your life. Living with that much doubt, delays important decisions. That leads to missed opportunities at happiness and growth.
Psychologytoday.com also highlights some great reasons to live in the moment and be present. You can read the article here.
Becoming present, on the other hand, leads to feeling of belongingness and acceptance – everywhere you go. Would you not want to feel like you truly, authentically belong? Just the way you are? I bet you would.
There are many other reasons why you need to care about becoming present in your body. But before I discuss the benefits of being present lets discuss what being present feels like.
How can I make sure I am fully present in my body? And what does becoming present in my body "feel" like?
The answer to figuring out if you are present in your body & mind is to notice your patterns.
For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, how are you coping with any anxiety that you are feeling ? Are you eating junk food (low vibrational foods) or are you working out to release stress ? Do you find yourself complaining about all the people that are making the outbreak even worse or are you communicating your feelings with love ? Are you blaming the people of China for starting this outbreak or are you helping those that are vulnerable ?
And, if you do suffer from anxiety, you can get some helpful tips from my post about Tips to deal with anxiety, for busy moms.
Or if anxiety is not something you suffer from, do you have a tendency to eat in excess when you have too much emotion (of any kind). I used to eat junk food (chips, chocolate, cookies etc.) with the onset of depression / sadness because I was conditioned to believe that sugar makes you happy. Well I took that belief very seriously and that became my coping mechanism.
Another way to understand how present you are in your body would be to ask yourself questions like:
1. Am I voicing my truth ?
2. Am I being authentic ?
3. Do I feel like I belong ?
If the answer to any of these questions is “No”, you are not 100% present in your body.
You get my point. The goal is to notice your patterns during (and reactions to ) tough situations.
And you can do just that by journalling after you find yourself running a ‘coping pattern’. If you find yourself not being able to cope with a challenging situation, without resorting to a coping mechanism, you are definitely not 100% present in your body.
Because becoming present in your body would empower you accept what is going on, deal with it and ‘shake it off’ before moving on in your life. And being 100% in your body would make your life easy and authentic.
If I am not present in my body, where the heck am I?
If you have decided that you are NOT in your body 100% of the time, its important to find out what you are doing instead.
Maybe you are using a (or many) coping mechanism(s) to escape the body and not deal with whatever is going on.
For your reference, examples of coping mechanisms are:
1. Screaming and shouting.
Anger is often used to bring yourself back to the present moment.
2. Bullying others or being bullied.
These patterns often supress what’s really going on but help in forcing you to become present (in an unhealthy manner).
3. Eating more than you need.
“I would rather eat and stuff my emotions so I do not have to face them” is a very common way to avoid talking about what is troubling the person. When I used to eat to hide my true feelings, I would often get a tummy ache and was forced to deal with that instead.
4. Drama and Gossip.
This helps you feel connected to others because you are not connected to yourself.
5. Being too busy.
If you are always occupied and do not take care of yourself or rest your mind, you are probably escaping ‘being’ you.
Some people have a ‘martyr’ complex. They like to sacrifice their happiness for others’ happiness. Well this is a lose lose situation for all. The person being the ‘martyr’ is helping others from a very low vibration, so the martyr is never respected for what they do. And they almost always get taken advantage of. And the person being helped is being disemppowered in this situation and often made to feel guilty.
6. You are always sick or having accidents.
I used to be this person. I was always falling down, getting sick and having “weird” accidents. This always put me in a ‘victim’ mode and forced me ask for help. The help usually came in the form of an obligation. And this always left me feeling like a liability. Again, another pattern I was running in the past.
These are only some examples from my experience. I am not a psychologist or a doctor but I have noticed these symptoms in the people around me at different stages of my life.
Benefits of becoming present (in your body)
After you have released certain patterns that keep you stuck to old ways of operating in this world, you will slowly start to show your authentic self to the world.
And the world will love you for it.
Read my post that will outline one of my processes for releasing old patterns. Check out the #1 tip in this post. It will show you exactly how you can help release old patterns that do not serve you anymore. This might not work for everyone, depending on how strong the pattern is. You can connect with me in my private facebook group (link at end of this page) to find out other ways to release those patterns.
Once you have started the process of releasing old patterns and becoming more self-aware, you will notice that many “coincidences” will start to happen. Old relationships will create more drama or new situations will start to trigger you. Basically, new patterns will show up for you to clear. Being awake equals being accountable for your life. Your life is yours to change. So take charge.
When you start to become more self aware and start looking inwards for answers, you have, in effect, started your journey to becoming even more present. And this is where the real work begins. Your pain-body (a part of your energetic system) will want you to go back to old ways and you will have to literally fight to keep moving forward.
Winning that fight every time will make you more present. Being present in your body will help you see what you need to change in your life to become even more happy and content. You will see the path you need to take to create your every desire. Your true personality will begin to shine.
How will my life change if I become present in my body?
These are some things that will show up as you become present in your body, even more.
1. You will lose old friendships and relationships that do not serve you – increasing your levels of happiness within.
2. You will speak up about how you are feeling in that moment. And people will listen.
3. You will dream about old relationships and old wounds, releasing from your subconscious mind
4. You will leave the work, that never gave you any satisfaction. Or you will find ways to treat your work as an income generating activity without having emotional attachments to it.
5. Your health might improve. Mine did. And it was fabulous!! You can read about my healing journey to understand more.
6. You will feel more calm and neutral around people and situations. Situations that sent you into a spiral of emotions before, will not affect you the same way.
7. Many new people will gravitate towards you and when you do lose old friends, you will not chase them.
8. You will start to become more compassionate towards others, without being taken advantage of.
9. You will take care of yourself before taking care of others.
10. You will start to see signs from the universe, and understand them!
What are some techniques that will help me become present in my body ?
The first step to becoming present in your body is to become aware of the pattern that you are running. If you would like to be coached on recognizing those patterns, you can get in touch with via the contact form on my page. Then those patterns can be released, as discussed above.
To continue coming into my body completely, I practice the following on the regular:
Gratitude
Simply being grateful for where you are, what you have and what you are capable of will help you connect with the creator of this universe – making you present, even more. Check out the 31-Day Gratitude Journal and Colouring Book I created, just for you!!
Self-Care
I practice self care in many forms to honour my mind, body and soul by:
1. Reading books that I am interested in.
2. Writing and Journaling to express myself
3. Working-out and eat nutritious meals to take care of my one and only body and
4. Meditating to connect more with my higher self.
The goal of all my self care practices is alignment with my authentic and true self. Make sure to subscribe to my website to receive your copy of the daily self-care planner that you can use to monitor your self-care routine.
Saying your truth
Speaking up when you think you need to, to be honest in any situation will also help you connect with your higher self. And in turn become more present to WHAT IS.
Developing your intuition
There are various ways you can learn to develop your intuition and doing those practices will help you become self-aware. And in turn more present in your body and mind.
Grounding yourself
Grounding yourself or stabilizing yourself is so important, specially in chaotic times. Sometimes our emotions take over and we need to come back to centre to gain perspective again. Activities that can help you ground yourself and connect further with mother earth are:
1. meditation
2. walks in nature
3. visualization exercises
4. deep breathing
If you have used other techniques to become more present in this life, I would love to hear them. I would also love to help coach you through this process. You can connect with me in my private facebook group.
How can I help others around me also become self-aware?
The best to help others also become more self-aware is to help yourself. If you start to help others, while they are not ready to be helped, you will turn them off from this idea of personal develpment. And their path might be different than yours. It is not your responsibility to change other people. I would suggest that you focus on changing yourself for the better and notice how your world changes.
Over time, people that are ready to become present in their lives, will gravitate towards you and follow your journey. Or you will organically find a way to help them.
But for now, focus on yourself. And surrender the rest. Continue making those changes in your life and leave the rest to whoever you believe in (God, Universe, the creator).
I would love to hear what you are doing in your life to become even more present. You can join my private facebook group to connect with me.
