How to be more present in your daily life. A top 10.

We live in challenging times and one way to avoid being stressed by all that’s happening around us, is to try and be more present. (If you want to know more about what stress really is, read this article)
There are many simple things you can do to achieve that. In the following you’ll find a short and sweet top 10 list of my favourite tipps and tricks.

You may find that you do a lot of these already automatically and naturally, but I hope that I can give you at least a few new impulses.

My top 10 list of tips and tricks for more presence in life and in your relationships

1. Be REALLY there. Make the conscious DECISION to really be there and then be there. Keep your mind focused on the situation and don’t look on your smartphone, for example.
2. BE AWARE OF YOUR BREATH. Let your breathing be calm and deep and breathe into your belly whenever you can. Children and animals breathe into the belly because it naturally calms us.
3. When you talk to someone: LISTEN to them and really listen in an attentive, curious and open manner. Don’t just wait for them to catch their breath to place your own opinion and story.
   (By the way: here is a wonderful song on the topic „Stop and listen” by Peter Broderick on Spotify)
   Of course, this also applies to conversations on the phone: Be present. Don’t do anything else on the side. People will notice whether you’re there or whether you’re distracted. You will also get more out of the conversation if you are present.
4. LOOK at the world. Look into people’s eyes and see them. And also let them look into your eyes.
5. TASTE what you eat. Let every bite melt in your mouth. Make an appreciative „mmmmh” sound when you eat and check if the food tastes better. Apparently, this opens the pores in the mouth and on the tongue which intensifies the taste. Mmmmh, delicious!
6. STOP MULTITASKING! Do only ONE thing at a time, as much as you can. You’ll find that most of the time you can. Especially if you decide to do so and set priorities. And then: do things in a serial manner, not parallelly.
7. Treat yourself to MORE OFF-TIME. When you’re out and about, don’t always automatically look at your phone whenever there’s a pause. Also, don’t turn your phone on as soon as you wake up. Maybe you can do without it for the first few hours of the day or at least the first half-hour? Give it a try. It may well feel very strange at first, almost like a missing limb. But you’ll see that you’ll feel more connected to yourself, your own voice, feelings and opinions (your own presence!) if you don’t let yourself be distracted by the chatter of the world.
8. LISTEN TO YOUR INTUITION: What does your body want, what does it need? What do your emotions want to tell you? (Meditation can help you with this. If you need guidance, I can help you!).
9. LET GO OF EXPECTATIONS. If we let ourselves be controlled by expectations, we will constantly check whether life matches our expectations or not. This is how our brain works (unfortunately). It always compares: I know / I don’t know. I like xy / I don’t like it.
   But when we are attentive and present, then the magic happens and we can be surprised by life!
10. LET YOURSELF BE SURPRISED. By life. This way, every day becomes a new adventure. You disarm the ego which always thinks it’s super smart and knows it all … and instead, you go through life with fresh, alert eyes and cultivate your BEGINNER’S SPIRIT, the open and unprejudiced mind..

This list does not follow any hierarchy and is by no means exhaustive. You can extend it as you like. If you have more tips and tricks, please share them in the comments!