Part 2: Stay Present

The tips presented that resonated most with me were 1 & 4. I really liked that tip #1 was the first behavior of the day. Waking up and making a solid committment to remaining present is such a great tip in focusing on choosing to be present each and every day. Tip #4, being aware of your thoughts and staying positive is a great way to stay present and positive each and every day. All of the tips were helpful and very practical in focusing on joys in life and being grateful for each moment. 

1. Become aware of your body - Become aware of any physical sensations that you are feeling. Listen to what your body is telling you and address your body's needs. Your body is a source of great information that can help you in this moments.

2. Become aware of your thoughts - Keep your thoughts positive, focus on the present moment, try not to think about the past or the future.  Think about what you have to be grateful for right now - take time to consciously focus on and appreciate the good things that are happening.

Each year, at the beginning of the school year, I set goals for myself. Most of which are centering around the idea of remaining present with my students and listening to what they have to say and using that to continuously fuel the lesson. Two ways in which I try to reach my goal, the video reflects. The first one being developing a system in which a reminder is set to be present. I have a deep breathing app on my watch that goes off three times a day, I usually try to honor that. Now it's not always perfect sometimes I don't have time but when I do I can absolutely see a difference in my ability to remain present. The second tip that he gave was the idea of setting aside a block of time to meditate. I feel like people sometimes have the wrong impression of meditation and think of it as a chance to clear your mind when really it is about focusing on the present moment and moving yourself from the chaos of the world to the present. I think teaching this to students is also really important work. 

Two tips I would take:

1.  Being present-  understanding to be there in the time/experience.  By realizing that you have to stop, take a deep breath and be present.  Listen to others, hear the thoughts in your brain, being present in everything you do.  Take the time to relax, think and understand the moment.

2.  Meditate-  by meditating I can take the time to actually sit and think, take time for myself and understand my thoughts at that time.  By meditating I can begin to understand how to concentrate on the positives and create some down time for myself to recharge and refocus.

Two tips that resonate with me are to focus on the positives and be aware of your thoughts.  I feel as though by focusing on the positives really puts an emphasis on creating a positive attitude that can care you through the day.  If you focus on the positives you will learn to be more positive with others (students, coworkers).  By concentrating on the positives in life you can learn to be more empathetic and compassionate with others.  By concentrating on the positives you will live a happier life, then if you dwell on the negatives, which would tend to make you feel down, sad, angry or depressed.

By being aware of your thoughts we can be aware of our feelings and make sure we act according to our feelings.  By being aware of our thoughts we can make sure we act with sensitivity and awareness of others and their feelings and thoughts. 

One thing that struck me was the idea of becoming more aware of your thoughts and focusing on the positive. Recently, this has been very hard for me. I just bought a new journal to help track things and one of the items is what I am grateful for that day. This is something that I can going to start doing. Even though I might have a bad day, I need to be able to find the good in things. For instance, the friendly staff at the coffee place that I go to in the mornings before work some mornings and being able to sit and pet my cat for a few minutes this morning. Another tips that I want to try to is set aside a block of time to mediate and focus only on relaxing into the present moment. I look for calming youtube channels or videos that have calming sound/music to help ground me in the present and help me to focus on my breathing as well and to take those few minutes to focus on me and my well-being.

One tip that resonated with me is to develop a system for reminding yourself to be present. This could be a reminder on my fitbit watch and when the reminder goes off to practice grounding exercises such as deep breaths, taking inventory of feelings, notice posture, notice what you can see or hear. Another tip is to become aware of your thoughts. This means to focus on gratefulness and appreciate the good things in life and this will allow more enjoyment in life. The story of thinking about waiting in line in a different way resonated with me as instead of being impatient and waiting to get to the front to just enjoy where you are and what you can do in that moment.