Community Reflections: Presence

When you go deeply into the present, gratitude arises spontaneously, even if it’s just gratitude for breathing, gratitude for the aliveness that you feel in your body. 

Eckhart Tolle

Each day, we offer a Daily Question in our Practice Space to inspire grateful reflection. We appreciate and learn from the joyful, poignant, and vulnerable responses that appear. 

We offer the following selection of responses to one of our recent Daily Questions. May these reflections serve as inspiration for deepening your own gratefulness practice.

What helps me remember to be present in the moment?

“When I catch myself re-telling/re-living a past or future story in my head and I can feel the tension and anxiety in my body, I know it’s good time to remind myself, that right now, in this moment, I’m okay. I’m safe. I have what I need (and more). And to look around and notice the beauty of something/anything. And breathe.”
— Charlie T

“By stopping — slowing down. That’s what helps me.”
— Sarah67

“When a driver cuts in front of me and I catch myself making a negative assumption about why the person has done so…..and it usually not a good reason! In that moment when I can catch myself in that reactive mode and I “see” it and can create another story that is kinder than the original one I reacted to…I am brought back to the present. The feelings inside of me are powerfully strong….that I can see things differently…..and in a more loving and compassionate way.”
— Pamela

“I recite the words internally or verbally home. This reminds me to go home to my breath which is my home when thoughts go racing through my mind.”
— Devy

“Stop. Look. Go.”
— EJP

Learn more about the foundational Stop.Look.Go Grateful Living practice here.

“I remind myself of the fact that I am a human–being not a human–has been or will be. My intention is ‘to be.’ …I realized long ago that when I am living in the past or the future, I go there alone. I can’t change the past. I don’t know the future. The strength, the grace, I need is always and only available in the NOW. As I was taught in 12-step circles, ‘One day at a time.’ Life is not was or will be. Life IS.“
— Carol

“There are a few anchors that I utilize. When I start my day intentionally with sadhana (meditation, gratefulness, journaling) I’m better at being present throughout the day. Additionally, the breath, silence and nature can shift me back into the Now.”
— Avril

“Really and truly looking, seeing, observing, paying attention to what is in front of me. Easiest when I’m outdoors, or when in a space with beautiful things like an art gallery, but always available.”
— Barb C

“A breath.”
— Laura

“There are no rules for something so gentle as a heart. All too often, thinking seems to act as a defense mechanism, a way of avoiding insight, a way of not looking as what really is. My trouble has been too much analysis of life instead of living it. There is a precision around living now that needs to let go of all the analysis and stories.”
— Don Jones

“The breath. If I need to reground, all I have to do is focus on my inhales and exhales and I am back in the present moment.”
— SunnyPatti

“There’s a phrase I use consisting of three words that snap me back to the present moment. They are, ‘Be here now.’ They come from a book by Ram Dass by the same title. The book, of course, is wonderful, but the title of the book is something that I carry with me everywhere.”
— Kevin

What helps you remember to be present in the moment?

Photo by Shantanu Kulkarni