5 Ways To Live More In The Moment

Discover the art of living in the present with these five simple yet transformative practices that will help you savor every moment of life.

There is certainly an art to living in the moment, and although it’s hugely beneficial, it’s not something that comes naturally to everyone. Living in the moment isn’t quite the same thing as being spontaneous, although that does come into it at times, and it’s a fantastic way to improve your mental health, but it can be a tricky concept to get the hang of, which means you won’t be getting the best results if you try – and you might not even try at all. 

Let’s take a look at how to live in the moment and why it’s important so you can start trying it more and more – it might surprise you just how much good it can do you, and the methods you can use that will help you achieve it; it’s easier than you might think. 

Why You Need To Live In The Moment More

Before we help you understand how to live in the moment more, it’s worth considering why it’s so important. Living in the moment is a form of mindfulness, and it means you’re only thinking about whatever it is you happen to be doing, and you’re not worrying about the past or the future. It’s not possible to live in the moment one hundred percent of the time (for most people, anyway) due to various responsibilities in life – after all, living in the moment means not planning ahead, and not planning ahead isn’t a good thing. It also means not thinking about the past, and thinking about the past can be very positive, especially when it makes you feel happy or helps you learn a lesson, for example. 

However, spending some time living in the moment is a great idea, as it lowers your stress levels, which goes on to lower your blood pressure, protect your heart, help keep your weight in check, and all kinds of other positive health benefits, including reducing your risk of developing depression. 

So, if you were wondering why you need to live in the moment, here’s your answer – it’s good for you and helps you feel healthier and happier. Here are some of the best ways to do it. 

How To Live Presently

Take Care Of Yourself

One great way to live in the moment is to take care of yourself, and the fact that this obviously has other health benefits as well is definitely why it’s worth considering. Taking care of yourself comes in all kinds of different forms, from enjoying a long soak in a bubbly bath to sitting quietly reading a book to taking a day off work to go to a spa to reading through The Ultimate Guide To Blunt Cuts: What They Are, Maintenance Tips, And 25 Ways To Try Them while deciding which cut to get. Taking care of yourself could even be choosing and cooking healthy food, drinking more water, and exercising. It’s really your choice, but the fact is that most of these things can become mindful exercises that you’re able to use to live in the moment. 

The fact that you’re doing something for yourself rather than someone else can make this such a good idea. If you spend most of your time caring for others (whether it’s your career or not), then taking some time out to focus just on yourself and not worry about or think about anything else is ideal – and if you happen to benefit physically and mentally from that process, that’s all the better. 

Don’t Save Things For The Best

We’re all guilty of saving our nicest things, be it clothes, good china, the best towels and bedsheets, and so much more, for a special occasion. We wait, and we wait for that occasion to come, and sometimes it does, which is great. But what if it doesn’t? Or what if we don’t notice it when it arrives and we miss it? What then? 

What will happen is that the things we bought, because we loved them and wanted to enjoy them on a special occasion, will actually go to waste and just sit on a shelf or in a closet somewhere, perhaps for years, without being touched – what a shame. 

Do you have anything like that? The answer is probably yes; you’ll probably have at least one thing and perhaps more than one languishing somewhere while you wait for the right time. Why not make now the right time? Why not eat your next takeout on the best plates or wear your fanciest clothes in the house by yourself? Open that expensive bottle of wine on a Friday instead of a special day – why not? You’ll make yourself happy, you’ll be living in the moment, and using those special, fancy things on a normal day could even be what elevates it to something better – it’ll become a day you remember. 

Talk To Someone

This idea can be a bit scary, but it’s fantastic once you get started. We often spend time communicating with people, but that’s not the same as actually talking to them, and even if we spend entire days sending messages, emails, DMs, tweets, and so on back and forth, that’s not the same as having a real face-to-face conversation, and it’s that that’s something you can do to live in the moment. 

All the electronic forms of communication we have are great when it comes to being convenient and quick, but they’re not the best for those times when an in-depth conversation would be best either to clear the air, get something off your chest, have a good laugh and reminisce, or just listen. Even a phone call, which is better than a written message in many ways, still isn’t the best form of communication because you can get distracted and start multi-tasking, just as you can when you’re sending an email or composing a text. 

That’s why, if you want to live in the moment, have a face-to-face conversation with someone. You’ll stop thinking about other things and just focus on what you’re saying. Yes, that might mean you get to rant about what’s troubling you, but that’s okay – in fact, that can be very helpful. Or, if you prefer, talk about anything else and don’t think about any negatives at all. It’s true those things will still be there to deal with after you’ve finished talking, but you’ll be in a better headspace to handle the problem and much less stressed because you were living (and talking) at the moment. 

Single Task

You’ve heard of multitasking (we’ve even mentioned it in this blog post already), and you might even do it. It’s something that a lot of people do to try to tick more off their to-do list, thinking that if they do two or more things at one time, they’ll be faster and more productive. In most cases, that’s not what happens; instead, you do all the tasks more slowly and/or to a lower standard. However, the outcome of multitasking isn’t what we’re talking about here – we’re suggesting that when you multitask, you’ll have far too much time to think about things. When you go from one task to another and back again, your mind can wander, especially if you know you’ve got a lot to do. 

That’s why we’re suggesting you single task instead. As the name implies, this means you focus on just one thing at a time. The outcome should be more positive because you won’t be distracted and slowed down by doing more than one thing in the same amount of time, but more than that, you’ll be completely focused on what you’re doing – you won’t have to keep stopping to do other things, and you can truly be in the moment because your mind can go blank, other than the processes you need to think about to do whatever it is you have to do. When you single task, make sure you are focused and work hard on what you’re doing – you’ll probably get it done more quickly, and you can take a break when you’re done to stop you from getting too tired. 

Take Up A Hobby

Perhaps it’s not that you don’t know how to mind more mindful and live in the moment more, but that you don’t really have any opportunity to do it. Don’t worry – you can always take up a hobby, at which point you’ve got all the opportunity you could ask for. 

A hobby needs to be something you really enjoy if it’s going to help you live in the moment, but since there are so many options to choose from, picking something that fits in with your preferences shouldn’t be all that hard to do. 

Once you’ve found what you want to do and how you want to spend your time, make sure that’s precisely what you do and how you spend your time. Make time for your hobby because it’s the best opportunity to live in the moment, allowing yourself to be entirely focused on what you’re doing and enjoying it at the same time.