How to live in the moment?

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TopHatFox
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Location: FL; 25

How to live in the moment?

Post by TopHatFox »

I don't think I'm very good at living the moment, instead I tend to plan everything. Although this has meant that life has gone well (college, savings, etc.) it also means I'm always thinking ahead rather than enjoying what's there in front of me. I have often found myself counting down weeks and days. It can cause unnecessary worry/anxiety at times.

I'm trying to live more in the moment, but I don't really know how to improve this ability. Perhaps meditation? I imagine once I pass the urgency of having savings that will help a lot.

Oh please, oh wise ERE forumites, how does one live in the moment?
Last edited by TopHatFox on Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BRUTE
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by BRUTE »

why does Olaz want to live in the moment?

brute subscribes to the idea that humans feel a certain why for reasons, even if they're consciously unaware of the reasons. maybe Olaz feels uncertain about his future, somewhat anxious, and therefore has a hard time stopping the planning and focusing on the moment. maybe this is appropriate. maybe not everything that some mindfulness guru says needs to be applied to all humans at all times.

daylen
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by daylen »

Living in the moment is not inherently better than dwelling on the past or projecting the future. As long as you enjoy being in that state.

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C40
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by C40 »

FIRST -- Thinking about the future and living in the moment are not mutually exclusive. Living in the moment doesn't mean not thinking about anything or not thinking about the future or just being spontaneous.

I spent many many hours making future projections of when I could retire, making charts and graphs and tables of data, much of it focused on the future. I had fun doing that. I was living in the moment then.

Enjoy the process. Learn/remember that when you're FI, you're life is not going to be automatically better. You're still going to be planning things and figuring stuff out and working for the future.. just some of the things you focus on will be a little different. Life is in the details. In the planning. The doing. The learning. The figuring out. The dealing with problems. You better learn how to enjoy these things now. Don't wait for FI/Retirement to make your life (or your ability to live in the moment) better. Figure out how to now because if you're bad at this, and you're expecting FI to fix it, life might actually get worse when you don't have the structure/goals/challenges of school or a career (and the magic future to look forward to)

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Ego
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by Ego »

+1 C40

bryan
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by bryan »

Who needs a psychologist when you can just post to the ERE forums :lol:

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Jean
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by Jean »

Immediate danger

ThisDinosaur
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by ThisDinosaur »

I tried "mindfulness " for a while to deal with racing thoughts about the future, obligations, etc. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Having a To Do list that i can put aside often helps, so i can focus on whatever pleasant activity im doing in the present. Sort of forced, organized procrastination.

Scott 2
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by Scott 2 »

Choose your audience, choose your answer. This is the perfect group to endorse planning ahead.

One of the goals of yoga is to simply be present. For those who are new, one of the most popular strategies is a vinyasa flow. Essentially 50 minutes of continuous calisthenics in a warm room, with music, verbal instructions, physical adjustments, packed within a few inches of other people. Then for the last 10 minutes, everything stops, you all lay down in the quiet, and hopefully your mind follows.

The act of overwhelming all your senses with stimulus, then abruptly removing them, was very effective in teaching me to find that place. Once you're experienced visiting, you can go there at will, then let in a single experience. That's what I do if I need to be present.

Lucky C
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by Lucky C »

It helps to have a friend who is spontaneous to lead the way. Don't surround yourself exclusively with other planners.
Alcohol also helps.

7Wannabe5
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Getting older helps. I can't tell you exactly when it happened, but at some point I stopped waiting for my "real" life to begin.

OR, you might find that getting somebody to wrap you really tightly in saran wrap from the neck down and then lift you up in the air over a significant drop will help you to focus in the moment.

halfmoon
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by halfmoon »

Lucky C wrote:It helps to have a friend who is spontaneous to lead the way. Don't surround yourself exclusively with other planners.
Alcohol also helps.
7Wannabe5 wrote:OR, you might find that getting somebody to wrap you really tightly in saran wrap from the neck down and then lift you up in the air over a significant drop will help you to focus in the moment.
Somehow, I feel that these posts are related. :lol:

slowtraveler
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Re: How to live in the moment?

Post by slowtraveler »

Some great responses above.

Meditation does help a lot.

I'd say to put time into pleasurable things like nature or time with people whose time you enjoy as one of the easy ways.

Noticing what emotions, physical sensations, cravings, sights you are experiencing is also a useful practice.

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