In the world we live in, it’s easy to get caught up in the past, dwelling on missed opportunities, regrets and failures. However, living in the present is essential for personal growth, happiness and overall well-being. 

Here are 10 practical tips to help you live more fully in the present:

1. Acceptance
Begin by accepting that the past is gone and cannot be changed. Embrace the lessons it has taught you and use that knowledge to fuel your growth.

2. Practise Mindfulness
Cultivate mindfulness by bringing your awareness to the present moment. Practise meditation and pranayama to help you focus on your breath and the sensations in your body.

3. Be Grateful
Focus on the positives in your life by practising gratitude. Acknowledge the blessings you have received and the progress you’ve made.

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In my book, DARE, there is chapter on being both ruthless and compassionate, and I give the example of my teacher: Her name was Miss Bailey, she was English and she taught me in junior school. She cycled to school on a beautiful bike crafted in England, and on entering the school gate, she would hand over her graceful machine to any one of us eager boys or girls who would rush forward to park it for her.

It was a privilege when Miss Bailey handed her bicycle to you. One day Shankar stood at the gate: Shankar was a hunchback. We laughed, “Move out of the way. Shankar, Miss Bailey is going to enter!” Miss Bailey drove in and we all rushed offering our little hands to her for help. But Miss Bailey looked past us all.

Where was the kind Miss Bailey, we wondered. But she was looking past us at Shankar, and we shuddered. Was she going to make Shankar try to wheel the cycle, so he could fall and be the butt of our jokes? 

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“Because Angels could not propagate, nor make more Angels, God enlarges his love in making man, that so he might enjoy all natures at once, and have the nature of Angels, and the nature of earthly creatures in one person.”
~ John Donne

Compassion is the key to healing our tinctured planet. When we mindfully attend to a person we’re with, the living energy becomes an intimate part of who we are. Compassion is often seen as a distant, altruistic ideal cultivated by saints or as an unrealistic response of the naively kind-hearted. But when we view compassion this way, we lose out on experiencing the transformative potential of one of our most precious but neglected inner resources.

We must make it our task to perform one act of kindness every day, no matter how small it may be. It can be as simple as picking up a scrap of paper in your neighbour’s yard or yielding to a car in traffic, or as complex as making a lonely person feel loved.

By making kindness a part of your daily life, it becomes such a normal response that you don’t have to strain to summon it forth from the dregs of your soul anymore.

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Very often I hear from some friend or relative that either they or someone in the family has been struck by a fatal disease. “But don’t tell anyone!” they tell me. I always wonder why they don’t want to tell others, and have come to the conclusion they feel the world will mock them for their tragic circumstances.

Is the world actually so cruel?

I remember the story of a kid in school who was vaccinated with a painful injection in the arm. The doctor then wanted to stick on a bandage. “Please put it on the other arm,” the boy pleaded.

“Why?” the surprised doctor asked. “This will let everyone know you have been vaccinated and they won’t hit your sore arm.”

“Please put it on my other arm! Please!” the boy begged. “You don’t know the kids at my school. They will hit me there, because they know my arm has been vaccinated!”

The boy knew his fellow students and wasn’t about to let them hit his already hurting arm.

Adults, too, are pretty good at hiding pain. Not usually physical pain, but the kind of pain that’s harder to see.

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Reach out and touch somebody’s hand…
Make this world a better place
If you can…!

I once stopped behind several cars at a junction. It was raining and the wind was icy cold and blew relentlessly. Ahead of me a young beggar woman stood alongside the street rubbing her bare hands together and dancing in place to keep warm. Beside her rested a sign that read, “I have a baby and no food.” She was obviously crying, likely from the biting rain.

Homeless and unemployed people are a common sight in many of our larger cities, and we motorists drive by without offering assistance. We have been taught that giving money fosters a dependent lifestyle, or the ready cash may be used to purchase drugs or alcohol or another substance rather than the food it was intended for.

This, of course, is true, but I am reminded of a college friend of mine who encountered a homeless man on the sidewalk. He took some money from his wallet and handed it to the unfortunate stranger. His friend commented, “Why did you do that? He’s just going to spend it on booze or drugs.”

My friend replied, “Yeah…like we’re not!”

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