It’s important to be present in your life. Not living in the past, looking at regrets or decisions you have made. Or living in the future, spending too much time planning what you want to. Instead, you try and spend your attention as much as possible to the present moment. Attention-is-Everything.
Things that help for me are meditation, Write-to-a-Timer and using a Writers-Notebook to brain-dump.
The opposite of being present is being distracted constantly, for example on social media where it is intentionally hard to focus. Remember Social-Media-is-Designed-to-Capture-Our-Attention.
Don’t beat yourself up too much though, because Distraction-is-Inevitable.
You’re obliged to deal with how your experience is unfolding in this moment, to resign yourself to the reality that this is it.
Four-Thousand-Weeks-by-Oliver-Burkeman-2021
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This is an excellent video about photography, arguing the most important skill you can have is to be present.
Nothing lasts forever. Someday we will all be gone, perhaps even all humanity will be nothing more than a speck in the infinity of time. But in spite of these certainties and thoughts and fears and anxieties, we are still alive now, in the present, in this moment, and we should not spend so much time either clinging to the past or worrying about the future that we forget about the present. [[ https://omnivore.app/https-roytang-net-2023-12-being-mortal-18cb6db84df#e964252b-b34a-48be-888d-0abe32f14e09 ]]
Notes mentioning this note
Interstitial Journaling
A form of [[Journaling]]. Instead of sitting down and reflecting after the events, you rapidly log how you feel at...
Disconnect Frequently
In order to [[Be-Present]] and [[Avoid-Overstimulation]], it is necessary to log off social media frequently. Social media is a distraction...
Attention is Everything
Attention is the most important resource we have. It is what we use to define our world, how we [[Be-Present]]....
Choose What is Important
Because [[Our-Lives-Are-Brief]] and [[You-Will-Die]], it’s important to [[Acknowledge-Your-Limitations]]. Once we have done this, we need to [[Be-Present]] and focus on...
Avoid Overstimulation
Overstimulation is the twitchy sick feeling of having too many tabs open at once. It’s not being able to sit...
Transactional Analysis
A psychological concept saying that we move between three ego states- Child, parent and adult. The child is how you...
Writers Notebook
I’ve carried a notebook with me for years. It’s a place to make observations ([[Observe-the-world]]), have fun ([[Art-is-Play]]), experiment with...
Slow Down
Stop trying to rush to do everything. Things will take the time they take. Instead, slow down, [[Be-Present]] and try...
Bullet journal
A way of categorising your thoughts in a notebook using symbols as you write, invented by [[Ryder-Caroll]]. The system is...
Nothing-lasts-forever
[[You-Will-Die]]. You know this. But nothing you create will last either. Eventually, the sun will expand and destroy the Earth....
Being present reveals more detail
When you are [[Meditating]] or you [[Practise-Doing-Nothing]] or simple trying to [[Be-Present]], you notice more detail in the world. Moments...
blindboy-mental-health
Lessons from a [[Blindboy-Boatclub]] podcast episode on mental health. Don’t know which one didn’t write it down (cursed [[Source-Amnesia]])
Surf the Feeling
[[Nothing-lasts-forever]], not even the worst feelings. If you pay attention to a feeling and not let it consume you, it...
Embrace silence
We fill every moment with noise, from podcasts to music. No wonder then that we are distracted and frantic.
journaling-allows-you-to-be-present
[[Journaling]] allows you to clear out your mind and [[Be-Present]]. [[notes-are-inputs-for-action]] after all, so by writing down all your thoughts...
You should have a hobby
Don’t work all the time. Have something you do that allows you to [[Be-Present]], to take your mind off the...
walking-can-be-meditation
We know [[Walking-is-helpful-for-your-mental-health]]. It can also be deeply meditative, as you are moving at the speed of thought and it...