6 “In The Moment” Questions to Decrease Your Stress - NOW
Posted on March 22, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare
We have a tremendous amount of mind chatter that goes on beneath the surface. Often the conversations are negative abusive statements such as “you should”, “why did you do that” and “what is wrong with you?” These can lead to feelings of stress and overwhelm as you try and quiet the mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to speak with gentleness and kindness to yourself? To be loving and respectful of all you say and do.
The moment-is pie is a great place to steer your internal conversations onto the right track. This pie has 6 questions that help you get grounded and centered into this present moment experience - into the NOW. People often feel stressed and dissatisfied with their life as they struggle with what is their current reality. Learning to recognize your in the moment experience can be a great stress reducer as you learn to "be here, NOW"
1) What am I doing right now? Stop and ask yourself this question in this moment. It can help you focus on what is actually happening in your here and now experience, and to not make assumptions about why you are doing what you are doing. When our mind chatters, it is often worrying about what lies ahead. To stop and focus on here and now, you can quiet the mind chatter. Let’s take the example of writing this blog. What am I doing right now? I am sitting at my computer composing a blog with thoughts that come to mind.
2) What do I observe around me? This is not up for interpretation, just the fact - The reality of this moment. My observations in this moment: It is a bright sunny day that is partially overcast. My computer is warm to touch, the room is cool, I have papers piled up around me and it is currently 12:40 in the afternoon.
3) What are my thoughts? This is the mind chatter, the shoulds, the coulds, the expectations and also the intellect as it strives to make sense of the world around us. My thoughts in this moment: I have more time today to write my blog. I am hoping that readers will find this of interest and will be able to relate to what I am saying. I am feeling tired.
4) What are my feelings? These are the physical sensations that are going on in your body in this moment that are attached to emotions. Feelings can be felt in the body, thoughts occur in the head. My feelings in this moment? I am feeling a few butterflies that seem like excitement that I have time to write. These butterflies may also be telling me I am a bit nervous that people may find the subject mundane and will not want to read it again. I am tired, and feel low on energy
5) What do I want? This is putting some ownership of what we want into our “in the moment” experiences. This question does not relate to what do I want in my whole life it means what do I want right now? In this moment, what do I want – I want to take a break, lie down if I need to, I want to be respectful of my body and what it is asking of me.
6) What can I do about this right now? This is the action piece. So many of us have ideas about how we can solve our problems or fix what is ailing others. The greatest question to ask is “what can I do about this right now – not 10 minutes from now, but now” . In this moment, what can I do about my feeling of fatigue. My answer is finish writing this blog and take a break. I will do that and come back later.
I took my break, ate some lunch, was conscious as I ate my food, drank lots of water and feel invigorated now. I have not made this story up, this has been my “in the moment” experience for the past 30 minutes or so.
By asking yourself these questions you will begin to quiet your mind and embark on your journey into being more present in the moment and living the life you want. Start by asking yourself just one and see what you notice. How do you feel?
Please let me know what you notice when you ask yourself these questions.
Take care and I will blog with you soon.
Gerrianne
