Be Here Now

In the modern world where everyone seems to be time poor, trying to get a million things accomplished in what seems like less and less time, being "in the moment" is increasingly difficult.  When clients come to therapy often they are spending a large percentage of their time remonstrating about the past, or worrying excessively about the future.  Spending most of your time doing one or both of these things, leads you to miss what is going on right before your very eyes, something called "the present moment".  Ever heard of it?

There's a large and growing movement in psychological treatment in favour something called "Mindfulness".  When trying to explain mindfulness to clients, I sometimes struggle.  A definition for mindfulness is "the capacity to maintain (for whatever period of time) nonjudgmental attentiveness to the present moment."  This explanation is often greeted by blank looks because it can be heard as a bunch of psychological mumbo jumbo.  Who are the best example of mindfulness - young children... they are caught up in whatever is going on in the moment without worrying too much about what happened 5 minutes ago, and what is going to happen 5 minutes in the future.  They can be crying inconsolably one minute, and totally fine the next... they accept the present moment for what it is without being caught up in past and future.  Of course it is impossible for an adult to life in this manner with so many competing priorities, however when physiological arousal seeks to overwhelm us, the practice of brief mindfulness techniques bringing us into the present moment can be very stabilising and healing for most people.

This is a relatively simple mindfulness exercise, and one that you can do at any point throughout the day.  When last did you stop and listen to the sound of your own breath?  It happens every minute of every day but we rarely pay attention to it.  For 60 seconds your task is to focus all your attention on your breathing. It’s just for one minute, but it can seem like an eternity. Your eyes can be closed or open, but your task is to breathe normally. Be ready to catch your mind from wandering off (because it will) and return your attention to your breath whenever it does so.  This mindfulness exercise is far more powerful than most people give it credit for.  It takes some people a long time before they are able to complete a single minute of alert, clear attention.

The ability to be present, and fully appreciate the wonder of our lives can often come to us most strongly when our lives are in danger, and we realise the time-limited nature of our journey.  Recently, the death of a young actor called Andy Whitfield (pictured above with his family) was reported in the media.  Andy was the star of a TV show called, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand", but he was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma after the completion of the first season.  The process of his treatment has been captured in a yet-to-be-released documentary called, "Be Here Now".  While watching the trailor, I was struck by the remarkable way in which Andy Whitfield speaks about his illness and I was moved by his calmness and courage, and his determination not only to live, but to live in the moment.  This man had a lot of live for, and in every way that society defines it, he was a success.  From my limited knowledge of him, his time was used well.  Life is time-limited and we waste a lot of time ruminating on the past or contemplating possible future events.  Be Here Now.  I hope this film gets a great deal of attention that it thoroughly deserves.  I couldn't think of a more wonderful message.