Staying Present & Mindful

So often we get caught up in the worries of tomorrow and the regrets of yesterday that we forget to be fully present in our daily lives. To be honest, lately I’ve found myself more often than not spending the majority of my time worrying about the future and getting caught up in the negative voice in my head.

When we do this, we disengage from living in the present moment, and we let the beauty that surrounds us slip by. Whether it’s worrying about the way you look, what someone else will think of you, what food cravings you have, what your finances are, what you have going on at your job, etc – these worries about the future prevent us from truly being happy in the moment. With all the moving and traveling that I’ve done over the last few months I’ve found myself trying to deal with a great amount of stress. I was out of my normal routine, moving from place to place, and dealing with sleep issues. All of this compounded – I wasn’t feeling very good, I was overeating, and I ended up in a place where I wasn’t in tune with my body. Turning to food left me feeling tired and lethargic, which only continued the cycle.

Now that I’m finally settled, I realized I let bad habits of the past sneak up on me and ruin my time in the present moment. Even this morning as I was eating breakfast, I found myself eating really fast, disengaged from what I was even doing. I took 3 deep, calming breaths, and grounded myself back into the present. Immediately I slowed down to take time with each bite, and felt gratitude for my food and all the nature that surrounded me.
Liz and I aren’t immune to the issues everyone faces – sometimes we ALL fall off track or let bad habits come back up. The thing to remember in these moments is that there’s no reason to dwell on the past or beat yourself up –  pick yourself back up, become present, be mindful and the rest will fall into place.