What Affects Your Overall Level Of Presence?

[john5170]

I noticed that some days I am just naturally more present. And others I can't focus at all and my mind just keeps going and going.

I just can't find a solid correlation between most factors. For example, drinking green tea. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe its just a placebo effect. I don't know.

What have you guys/girls noticed affects your levels of presence? Either in a positive or in a negative way.

[Pav]

A regular meditation habit. Keeping present is like building muscle, it needs to be trained and maintained. 

[john5170]

1 hour ago, Mat Pav said:

A regular meditation habit. Keeping present is like building muscle, it needs to be trained and maintained. 

Yes, but what are some third party influences other than Meditation?

I just can't find anything, but I know FOR SURE, that some days my mind is just naturally more present even though I did the exact same thing as I did the day before, when it was distracted AF.

[Bob84]

@john5170 everyday you have diferent thoughts. In a sense you are present when you think about being present. Its all about where you place your attention.

[Shin]

• Clean eating
• No ejaculation
• Meditation habit
• Steady sleep schedule
• Workout/fitness habit (preferably in the morning)
• Stop alcohol/smoking, and any other kind of drugs
• Practising mindfulness (as much as possible), because thinking (especially negative thinking) is a HUGE energy drainer.

 

[egoeimai]

@john5170  Pain. Whenever you are in pain there's no other way than to be present.

Cold showers. Oh God you are present.

Doing tiring chores. 

Everything that strains the body.

From the opposite aspect,we have rhythmic breathing. It works for me! 

[john5170]

I know this may be silly, but what about: the amount of water you drink?

When you hydrate your body, your cells change in size. This includes your brain cells.

Has anyone found a pattern of how drinking too much or drinking too little (water) affects your presence?

[ChimpBrain]

Mine is almost entirely dependent on my level of work stress. The more overwhelmed I feel, the more I rush to the next moment and the less present I am. 

[john5170]

Yes that is important of course. But even with stress, I feel like presence is sometimes being pushed from within me regardless. Other times it is not. Hard to explain.

[Arkandeus]

- regular sleep at regular times
- water
- sport
- meditation

[Zenrik]

@john5170 Its just life.

Stay healthy like the people above points towars, be kind to yourself, and meditate.

Check in your progress on a monthly basis. 

[Gopackgo]

What helps me is just asking myself if I am aware throughout the day. Find an object, focus on it, take a deep breath and come to present. Relax into awareness. Another thing in my experience, is when I feel like I cant stay in the now, I look for resistance. A lot of times the problem is that I am ignoring a thought. And finally, just spreading my attention across my body and sounds around me (even if it is just the soft static of silence). 

Oh yea one more, try to consciously be unaware. Like purposefully try as hard as you can not to be aware. It works like a charm. It's impossible.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Gopackgo

[mp22]

On 05/04/2017 at 7:08 AM, Shin said:

• Clean eating
• No ejaculation
• Meditation habit
• Steady sleep schedule
• Workout/fitness habit (preferably in the morning)
• Stop alcohol/smoking, and any other kind of drugs
• Practising mindfulness (as much as possible), because thinking (especially negative thinking) is a HUGE energy drainer.

 

Why no ejaculation if I may ask? 

[Shin]

5 minutes ago, mp22 said:

Why no ejaculation if I may ask? 

Ejaculation is a huge waste of energy (and an addiction), like big time, google it.

You can also do this:

• Breathing exercises do help alot (pranayama & deep breathing preferably in nature)
• Solar energy: Let the sun heat you in the morning, its the best time. If you can get your shirt off is even better.
• Cold Shower: Maybe hard at the beginning but after a month its normal. Do it from head to toes, it does magic, specially to keep you alert in the morning.
• Music: It can help as a trigger to uplift your mood, specially high vibration music like techno.
• Naps: If you are tired or very busy during the day and couldn't have a good sleep, try 15-20 minutes nap. Its wonderful.
• Positive people: fully expressing yourself with people that are open can make your day.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Shin

[mp22]

12 minutes ago, Shin said:

Ejaculation is a huge waste of energy (and an addiction), like big time, google it.

You can also do this:

• Breathing exercises do help alot (pranayama & deep breathing preferably in nature)
• Solar energy: Let the sun heat you in the morning, its the best time. If you can get your shirt off is even better.
• Cold Shower: Maybe hard at the beginning but after a month its normal. Do it from head to toes, it does magic, specially to keep you alert in the morning.
• Music: It can help as a trigger to uplift your mood, specially high vibration music like techno.
• Naps: If you are tired or very busy during the day and couldn't have a good sleep, try 15-20 minutes nap. Its wonderful.
• Positive people: fully expressing yourself with people that are open can make your day.

I do most of those things but Im married so ejaculation is important. Also when I travel I have to release all that energy somehow. What am I asking is are you as sure as can be about ejaculating or is this more of theoretical? thanks again

[Shin]

You don't need to ejaculate to have great sex.

@Loreena Then do it

Edited April 8, 2017 by Shin

[Loreena]

@Shin I want to do all this

[Tibor]

Youre overall level presence is affected by what is triggered in the ego.

There can be lots of possibilities cause everything that exists is moveing all the time.

And therefore there it can have an external internal dimensional or what ever. But somehow there is someting stirred up in the ego.

Carefull and thoroughly observation is a way to find out. 

[Gopackgo]

Keep an eye on wandering mind. Those thoughts are all stories. It may help to start recognizing this. Every single one of them is real but only in-so-far as their value as a sensation. The content however is fake. It's only function is to pull one from the presence. Not saying some of them aren't useful, but they are the main happening that distracts one from reality. You cant stop them from arising, but recognizing them for what they are may cause a slowing. Start noticing how little bearing they have on actual reality. Notice that generally, they serve 0 purpose. They are like waking bedtime stories, only the content is less restrained, and don't serve a purpose to comfort most of the time. There are stories and there is perpetual right now. Thoughts are the thing that makes a person forget that it is always now. Then a thought will arise saying oh no I'm thinking to much. Then a thought will arise that will say I wish I could stop thinking. Then a thought arises claiming that you need thought to live in reality. Then confusion and anger or guilt arises with the feeling that happiness requires no thought. It's the same cycle over and over (just different content), and it is all based on a faulty assumption that time is something real. But the point is that they are just stories that can dominate experience. They are a big factor in experiencing time.

[Shin]

- Stop watching news/tv, these are just full of negativity informations, which will fill your mind with.

- Stop facebook/twitter/instagram etc..., these websites are not only useless, but will make you less happy about your life, since you only see the happy parts of other lives.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Shin