The starting point for becoming antifragile in this time of change is our ability to stop thinking about the past, stop thinking about the future, and stop thinking about things that might be happening on the other side of the world — and instead focus on the reality that is happening, right here, right now, in this present moment.
The better we can do this, the better we will be able to carry out the steps that come next: making clearer sense of the situation, finding more options to move forward, choosing the best option, and so on.
Present-moment awareness is the foundation on which everything else is built.
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How To Come to Present-Moment Awareness:
To come to present-moment awareness, pause for a moment. Sit or stand still. Breathe in and hold your breath for a count of three. Then breathe out slowly and count to three again.
Now, bring your attention to what is happening around you. What can you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell in this present moment? Describe this as if you were describing it to another person. This is the reality that is happening around you, right now, in this present moment.
Next, shift your attention to what is happening in your body. Take another deep breath and let it out slowly. Move your attention through your body, from your toes to your shoulders, from your fingertips to the top of your head. What are you feeling in your feet, your legs, your hips, your torso, your arms, your hands, your head? Describe those feelings as if you were telling another person. Are you experiencing any recurrent thoughts? What are they? Describe them as if to another person. Take another deep breath, pause, and slowly release that breath. Again, this is the reality that is actually happening inside you, in this present moment.
Now bring your attention back to your surroundings. What is happening around you in this present moment? What can you see, hear, feel, taste, or smell? Describe it to yourself as if you were describing it to another person.
Repeat this cycle as many times as you find useful.
The more you practice this process, the more you will become aware of the reality that is actually happening in this present moment, in you and around you — rather than the thoughts that you are thinking about reality.
As you do this, you are likely to notice three things:
- The more we become detached observers of our own thoughts and feelings (by describing them as if to someone else) the less likely we are to get caught up in them. It’s not that we are sad or bad, it’s more that we are feeling sad or bad, for a short time. It’s not that we are afraid or confused, it’s more that we are feeling afraid or confused, for a short time. It’s not that the worst is about to happen, it’s more that we are imagining it’s about to happen. Then we can realise that our thoughts and feelings are just experiences we have for a short time. They are not reality.
- Next, the more we notice the details of the reality that is actually happening, in us and around us, the less we get caught up in the imagined fantasies of our minds. Yes, the past happened. And yes, some sort of future is going to happen. But it isn’t happening now. And by being here now, we reconnect ourselves to reality as it truly is, rather than our fantasy. And the more we do that, the more we can let go of the past and start to build the future we most want to create.
- Third, the more we come to present-moment awareness, the more we realise that our inner churning is not so much caused by what happens but by the ways we think about and interpret what happens. And the more we realise this, the more we can let our inner churning go. Which enables us to make clearer sense of the situation. Which enables us to find more opportunities to move forward. Which enables us to choose the best way forward, and inspire ourselves and others to make that future happen.
The more we come to present-moment awareness, the more antifragile we become. Because as any tightrope walker knows, it is only when we are fully focused, undistracted, in this present moment, that we maximise our ability to create the outcomes we most want.
How much of your time do you currently spend thinking about the past, worrying about the future, or imagining terrible things that might be happening, far away? Would it be useful to shift your focus back to what is actually happening, in this present moment, and what you might do next to achieve whatever matters most to you?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.
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