In this episode, I share tips for staying present, including keeping phones out of reach, practicing gratitude journaling, and using breathwork. I also discuss the benefits of active listening and physical movement. Tune in for actionable advice on living a more intentional life!
In today’s world, distractions seem to be everywhere.
Our smartphones, those small yet powerful devices, often leave us feeling overwhelmed and anxious.
I know that when I forget my phone, I experience a sudden pang of anxiety—wondering what I’m missing and why I feel so disconnected.
Recently, my husband made a switch from a smartwatch to a traditional one, and he remarked on the newfound peace of mind.
Without the constant buzz and notifications, he felt liberated from the pressure to respond immediately to every text.
We are continually bombarded with stimuli, making it increasingly challenging to stay grounded.
You’ve probably heard the advice to “be present,” but what does it really mean?
And how can we cultivate a greater sense of presence in our daily lives?
One effective way to stay present is by eliminating outside distractions.
For instance, at dinner, I have a rule: no phones at the table.
This helps in being present during meals.
Additionally, I put my phone away in another room to focus fully on being present with my daughter when she’s home from school.
To enhance how to stay present throughout the day, I often move my phone to various locations around the house, ensuring I’m not distracted by it.
If you’re dealing with phone addiction, which is a very real issue, having a barrier to entry on your phone can be incredibly helpful.
Sometimes, we can get into a trance-like state with our phones, engaging in behaviors we don’t even realize we’re doing.
To combat this, I like to move my apps around on my phone.
When I do this, I notice that I’m checking them more consciously.
It’s like a hypnotic state of checking something versus mindfully checking it.
By adding three extra steps to get to a particular app—because I need certain apps for work—I become much more aware of what I’m doing in the present moment.
Creating a barrier to entry for anything that distracts you from being present is incredibly helpful.
If certain things are extremely distracting, set up barriers to keep them at bay.
Another way to stay present is through mindfulness practices such as meditation, journaling, and gratitude exercises.
Every night before my daughter goes to bed, we practice discussing what we’re grateful for.
This practice is great for moving past the negatives of the day and helps in staying focused on the positive.
Guess what? You have the right to be upset about it.
Processing your emotions is important, but what’s really crucial is to not let those feelings overshadow everything that went well for the day.
To learn how to stay present, a gratitude practice can be incredibly beneficial.
By expressing thanks for the small joys—like a good laugh, a delightful cup of tea, or catching up with an old friend—you’re grounding yourself in the moment.
Another effective way of being present is through active listening.
Instead of just waiting for your turn to speak, fully engage with the person talking.
This not only makes them feel valued but also helps you stay in the moment, rather than focusing on what you’ll say next.
Do I have another story to share that complements the person’s story?
By actively listening, you’ll become more present, and what’s meant to come forward for you to share will naturally emerge.
It’s like a fun game—finding those little details in someone’s story that they might not realize are significant.
This not only makes the other person feel special and truly heard, but it also creates a deeper connection.
Sometimes, it’s the first time they’ve felt this way all day or even for a long time.
Active listening can strengthen relationships, boost your self-esteem, and encourage reciprocity in your interactions.
Additionally, having an intention or a mantra to focus on can help you stay present in the moment.
You can focus on being present with your breath, mind, heart, or soul.
Mantras like “I am present. I am breathing” can assist in rewiring the brain and helping you stay grounded.
By repeating these affirmations, you reinforce your connection to the moment.
Breathwork is another effective way to enhance your presence.
It clears out old energy, creating space for you to be more in your body and more grounded.
When you’re rooted and grounded, you see through a lens of love and feel more supported by Mother Earth.
This practice allows you to let go of anything that doesn’t serve you, including thoughts and energy that don’t belong to you.
Breathwork is one of the most powerful and free spiritual tools you can incorporate into your spiritual toolkit.
If you haven’t practiced breathwork before, I highly recommend starting with 10 conscious breaths every few hours.
This simple practice will not only help you become more present but also significantly reduce stress on your mind, body, and soul.
The breath—yes, the breath—brings peace and stillness, calming the mind and creating the calm we all need in our lives.
Incorporate mindfulness practices to support your journey towards being more present.
This could include breathing exercises, journaling, meditation, or spiritual movement like yoga, pilates, tai chi, or even dancing.
When you move your body, you release stagnant energy, which helps you stay rooted in the present moment.
If you can practice these activities outside, that’s even better, as Mother Nature offers additional healing while you’re taking those walks.
Additionally, practicing gratitude can anchor you in the moment.
Name three things you’re grateful for each day.
Journaling daily can also be beneficial, as long as you create barriers to distractions.
This might involve limiting your phone use, reducing screen time, or addressing other factors that keep you from being fully present.
Another tip to consider is setting up family time rules.
Family time is important regardless of whether you’re married, have a significant other, or live alone with a pet.
Define what your family time looks like and establish parameters to help you stay present and avoid distractions from screens, work, or other obligations.
This structure will support you in feeling more connected and engaged during these moments.
Moreover, practicing active listening during this time can further enhance your presence and deepen your connections.
With love and blessings,
Amy Robeson
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Hey, Amy Robeson here. Thank you for joining me on this podcast where we talk about spirituality, the awakening process, mental health, and so much more. Join me weekly to get your weekly dose of spirituality and medicine. I look forward to seeing you on the inside. Hello. Welcome to today’s episode. I’m so excited. You are here. We live in a time where we have a lot of distractions, so many distractions. The little devices that we hold in our hands, our telephones, cause us to be extremely distracted. I know for me, if I forget my phone, there’s this angst feeling of, Where’s my phone? What am I missing? And I was just recently talking to my husband who switched over from a smartwatch to a regular watch. And he’s like, oh, my God, it’s just so nice not having that anxiety when I see a text message pop up on my wrist that I have to reply right away to. We are constantly bombarded with stuff being thrown at us all day. And it’s really important to be present you often hear people say, be present. But what does that even mean? And how do you become more present?
Well, obviously, one of the things to do to be more present is to remove outside distractions. So I have a rule at dinner, the phone doesn’t come to the table, right? Because if the phone is at the table, that can cause distractions. I will also put my phone away in another room so I can be more present with my daughter when she’s home from school. If I’m not wanting to be on my phone and be more present just in general, I will move my phone to all sorts of different locations in my house. So there’s a barrier to entry. So if you are the type of person that has a phone addiction, which is a very real thing, having a barrier to entry on your phone is very, very helpful because sometimes we can have addictions in the phone that we don’t even realize we’re doing. We’re in a trance, in a hypnotic state that you don’t recognize that you are doing certain behaviors. And so oftentimes, I like to move my apps around on my phone because when I move my apps around on my phone, I notice that I’m checking them. I’ll notice the…
What’s the word I’m looking for? It’s like the hypnotic state of checking something. So it’s more of a tick to check it versus mindfully checking it. So if I move the app there are three extra steps to take to get to a particular app because I need apps for work. And so if there’s a particular three extra steps to get there, I’m then very aware of what I’m doing in the present moment. So creating a barrier to entry for anything that is causing you not to be in the present moment is super helpful. So if you find certain things to be extremely distracting, to be in the present moment, creates a barrier to entry to that particular thing. Another way that you can become present is to have mindfulness practices. Mindfulness practices can be meditation, journaling, and gratitude practices. Every night before my daughter goes to bed, we practice, what are we grateful for? This is a great practice to get into because it allows you to move past whatever was negative in the day, which, trust me, we can all find something that is super negative to complain about, to be upset about.
And guess what? You have the right to be upset about it. Processing your emotions around it is great. But what’s really important is to not allow those emotions to overtake everything else that possibly went really well for the day. Having a gratitude practice will assist you in becoming more present because what you’re going to be doing then is expressing one gratitude for the things that went well, the things that you really enjoyed. And they don’t have to be very big things. They can be little things. I really enjoyed the laugh that we had at that joke, or I really enjoyed the amazing cup of tea or coffee that I had, or I’m really grateful that I got to catch up with an old friend. Things that bring you joy can support you in becoming more present in that particular moment as well. Another way that you can become more present is to actively listen. Oftentimes, people are waiting their turn to talk. So if you are actively listening to the person that is talking, one, they’re going to feel more seen and heard, and two, Two, you’re not waiting your turn to talk. And please note that I know that not everybody’s waiting their turn to talk, but oftentimes, we’re ciphering through, What can I find relatable?
Or, Do I have another story to share that will complement that person’s story? Whatever the case is, by actively listening, you’ll become more present, and what is meant to come forward for you to share will come forward. It will absolutely come forward. Also, when you’re actively listening, you’re going to start… It’s like a fun game to play. I love active listening because the fun game to play then is trying to find the little details in someone’s story that they didn’t realize was so important. And when I’m actively listening to one, it makes the other person feel really special. It makes them feel heard and seen. And sometimes this is the first time that they have felt heard and seen for the day or maybe in a week or maybe in a really long time. And so active listening can build relationships. It can support you in feeling good about yourself and good about the relationship as well. And this will also encourage possibly the other person to actively listen as well in the relationship too. And so active listening is going to be really important. The other thing that you can do to become more present is to have an intention or a mantra that allows you to zone into that particular moment.
So it could be, that I’m present with my breath. I’m present with my mind. I’m present with my heart. I’m present with my soul. The mantra could be anything that you want to say that allows you to become more present. And so it could be, I am present. I am breathing. I am present. I am breathing. I am present. And these mantras can assist in rewiring the brain. And speaking about breath, breathwork is another way to get more present. What it does is it clears out some old energy, and it makes space for you to be more in your body, to be more grounded, because when you’re more grounded and rooted, you’re going to be able to see through the lens of love. You’re going to feel more supported because you’re rooting and grounding into Mother Earth and into GEA as well, which then allows you to diffuse or let go of anything that doesn’t belong to you in your org field, your energy field, any thought thoughts that don’t serve you because you’re breathing, you’re making space. Breathwork is one of the most powerful free spiritual tools that you can practice in your spiritual toolbox.
If you have not practiced breathwork, I highly recommend taking 10 conscious breaths every few hours and seeing how you feel. This will not only make you start becoming more present, but this will seriously destress your mind, body, and soul because you are becoming more present with the breath. The breath, the breath, the breath brings more peace and brings more stillness, which allows the mind to become more calm. And we all require a little bit more calm in our lives, don’t we? So practice mindfulness. Practice mindfulness practices that support you in getting more present. So mindfulness practices, again, can be breathing, journaling, meditation, spiritual movement like yoga, going for a walk, pilates, tai chi. When you move your body, even dance, when you move your body, you’re moving out stagnant, stuck energy, which then allows you to be more present in the present moment. Moment. If you can do it outside, even better, because guess what? Mother nature is healing you while you’re outside, while you’re taking those walks. Practice gratitude. Name three things that you are grateful for. Journal daily. Journal daily and create barriers to entries that have you distracted. That could be your phone, that could be limiting your screen time, That could be any other thing that has you distracted and not being more present.
Another last one that I’m just going to throw out is setting up family time rules. And family time doesn’t matter if you’re married or you have a significant other. Maybe you have a cat and yourself and you live by yourself with an animal. What does your family time look like? What does that look like? That’s going to support you in feeling better because you have parameters that will assist you in being more present and not distracted by screens or work or anything else. And practice active listening. All right, my friends, please make sure you share this with a friend and subscribe, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one. Bye.
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