Being present !!

Mindfulness and being "Present" are the buzz words all around. They are being talked about in schools , companies and by every leadership guru worth his / her salt. 

As a Life coach , I practice and teach being present . I recently read Thich naht hanh's book on Mindfulness practices and found it very easy to follow the exercises .

But I understand , that to a large majority , being present seems very intangible and very difficult to demystify. It was for me too. 

While reading the book " Leadership Presence " by belle Linda halpern and Kathy Lubar, I came across this wonderful definition of being present :

The ability to be completely in the moment and flexible enough to handle the unexpected. 

So , to understand what being present means, one must simply understand and follow the two principles as are laid out in the above definition :

1) Be completely in the Moment :

Let's take an example. You are driving to work, and are already thinking about your day ahead. You are also dropping your kids to school and they start talking to you about something that they are excited about. It's not important for you, and it doesn't seem to bother your child too much. It's just your child chatting away. So you figure, hey I can listen and drive and plan my day ahead. You keep nodding absent mindedly , and the last thing you hear as your child gets off the car is , 

" ok , so you will download that app for me right, even though it's a paid one ! Thanks, you are the best !"

Your mind screeches to a Halt and you are brought back to this moment . When did I agree to that ??

Being completely in the moment simply means giving your undivided attention to the task at hand. So if you are driving , you are driving . If you are talking to your child , you are focused on your child , his words, his eyes etc. 

This is the first step in being present . Stopping yourself and paying undivided attention to the task at hand. 

2) Flexible enough to handle the unexpected :

Flexibility is an important skill in life. It determines how we deal with obstacles , and uncertainties of which there are plenty in life. 

Let's take the same example as above. If you are driving , and completely focused on driving . Your child wants to chat and you tell him . Let's talk later , I need to focus on the drive. 

And suddenly , a car swerves ahead of you, and overtakes you . But there is traffic ahead and it suddenly slows down. It takes you by surprise , and you manage to calm your nerves and slam the brakes just in time to avoid a collision.

You were present , and you were flexible.  

Had you not been present , would you still have been as flexible to take the action necessary ?

Being present does not simply mean staying in the moment endlessly. The world is dynamic and our path is changing. How we react to it affects whether we achieve our goals .

Therefore, being flexible enough to handle thre unexpected is the second part of being present .

You cannot reach step 2 effectively , unless you reach step 1.

Read this definition again. Let the words sink in and think about how it makes sense to you.

In the next post , I will share simple exercises to practice being in the moment .

Stay present , stay flexible !