How to Become More Fully Present

I do not do not feeling well very well.

After a fantastic New Year celebration in Texas with my family doing all the things that are illegal to do in the Bay Area, I came home, experienced 48 hours of ferocious optimism for 2024 — and then woke up on January 5th with "the crud" that turned out to be Covid.

Covid interrupted my routine, including cancelling the first trip of the new year that I was very excited about. The emotional hit from the interruption was actually more severe than the physical hit. After multiple days of feeling under the weather I quickly become unregulated, ungrounded, and NOT in flow. In short, it was tough to be fully present for any extended period of time. That ferocious optimism? It was replaced with an intense feeling of overwhelm.

Fortunately I remembered one of my intentions for the year, recalibration. That's the process of making necessary adjustments to bring something back to an optimal or desired state. To help me recalibrate I created a new mindfulness practice I've been experimenting with over the last few weeks. I'm excited it to share it with you in case you've experienced an interruption that's caused you to become ungrounded with intense feelings of overwhelm. The next time that happens and you need to recalibrate, try these three steps:

1. Take three full breaths.

Becoming aware of our breath is the most universal practice for mindfulness. The breath helps ground us in the present moment, connects us with our body, promotes relaxation, and enhances self-awareness. For this step I like to close my eyes and imagine I'm watching the expansion and contraction of my body as I breathe in and out in a regular rhythm.

2. Say "Thank you for the task at hand."

I'm challenging you to do something that will feel uncomfortable at first. After the three breaths say "thank you for the task at hand," referencing the task you're focused on in that moment. (Here's an example: "Thank you for the task at hand of writing this newsletter." ) While we may not have a choice in the work at that moment, we always have a choice in our perspective about the work. To paraphrase Jocko Willink's Good philosophy for dealing with challenging situations:

If you can say "thank you" if means you're still breathing. And if you're still breathing it means you've still got some fight in you.

3. Close with "All is well."

Mantras act as noise cancelling headphones for the mind. Repeating a mantra can help clear other thoughts and distractions, allowing us to concentrate more fully on the present moment. Repeating a mantra can also give us a feeling of strength and resilience. I love the mantra "all is well" because 99% of the time all is actually well, even though my mind is attempting to tell me otherwise.

Whether you've been experimenting with mindfulness practices for years or you're just getting started, please remember to give yourself grace — courteous goodwill — in this process. You will get better at what you practice! And the payoff is absolutely worth the practice. Memory, reasoning, planning, and problem solving are all positively impacted by mindfulness.

Let's work together in 2024!

I am currently booking projects for next quarter, and I'd love to support you and your team. In addition to executive coaching for you (and/or your colleagues), I also design and facilitate Breakthrough Offsites that bring teams together for meaningful conversations that lead to meaningful outcomes — and a lot less stress for you because I take care of the groundwork. Just reach out here and let's set up a time to jam on how I can help!