10 Ways to Remind Yourself to Get Present

“Bring little gaps of consciousness into your day” — Eckhart Tolle

Photo credit lauramusikanski — Morguefile

The only moment that matters is the magical moment of Now. Why would you want to be anywhere else?

Well, sometimes it’s necessary. The past is a great teacher. It’s necessary to step into the future to plan. However, most of us would benefit from spending much more time in the present moment than we currently do.

There are various ways to get present. Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle’s favorites are

• Ask yourself, “Am I still breathing?” and come back to your breath
• Feel the aliveness in one part of your body, then move to another part
• Sense everything that is not in the room you are in — the space not taken up by you, others, or the furniture
• Hear the silence when someone is speaking — the pauses between the words and the sentences

It’s easy to forget to step into presence. The mind spends so much time replaying the past on an endless loop. It also spends considerable time focused on what it wants, which means it is in the future.

Here are 10 reminders you can set up in your everyday environment to direct yourself back to the present.