How to Be Enthusiastically Present in Your Life

My daughter and I were in the car together driving home from an evening concert at school. With college just a couple of short years away, we were having a conversation about her plans after high school. She had some ideas about what she wanted to do, but it didn’t take long for the conversation to stress her out.

She suddenly looked over at me in exasperation and said, “Mom, can’t we ever just live in the moment?”

Ouch…she made a good point. (So much so I remember the conversation vividly to this day several years later.) It seemed then, with college pressure high and making those decisions paramount, that it was all we talked about.

As a parent you want to ensure your kids are on the right path and discussing future dreams and plans with them is important. However, if you have a constant emphasis on the future (or the past), you can miss out on being fully present in your life, your kid’s lives, and the amazing gifts of “today.”

Many of you have shared that being present is a top challenge.

See if this behavior sounds familiar:

• When you are with others, your mind often wanders to something else rather than being present and engaged.
• When by yourself, you spend so much time thinking about what you didn’t get done yesterday or what you need to do tomorrow, you miss today.
• When you do have a free mental moment, your tendency is to grab your phone and start scrolling to fill any gaps in time.

I get it - it is hard to “just be,” and I fight the same pull to mental time travel, technology, or other distractions.

That’s why I have written this new blog series, How to Be Enthusiastically Present in Your Life, where I will address the reasons why you (and I) struggle with being present and how to change it.

Here are the topics we are going to cover in the coming weeks:

1. How to Practice Your Presence in Your Daily Life. You will discover why it is so difficult to live in the present moment, and how mindfulness can help. You will learn five simple ways to practice being present, starting right now.
2. How to Use Peaceful Meditation to Be More Mindful. You will learn how practicing mindfulness through meditation and other techniques benefits your body and mind, and how to get started.
3. 6 Simple Habits to Be a Better, More Present Parent. Working parents battle the constant pull between work and home life, and the struggle is real. Learn powerful habits you can develop to be a more present parent.
4. 10 Straightforward Ways to Be More Present and Loving with Your Spouse. If you are like most busy entrepreneurs, finding time with your spouse can seem next to impossible. Learn how to strengthen your relationship and start enjoying life together again.

Let’s get to work with just one piece of homework this week:

Click on the link to download a free worksheet to prepare yourself for this series. Take time this week to answer key questions to uncover what is holding you back from enjoying every moment to the fullest.

I Want to Be More Present

Whether you feel like you need some new best practices, or a complete reset - join me in this series to learn key strategies to be more present, improve your relationships, and live a happier life.