You’ve been meditating for awhile.

You feel the benefits. You’re calmer, more clear-headed, and experience a growing sense of peace. But you want to take your game to the next level.

​You’ve heard that mindfulness can help, but aren’t sure how to get started.

You’re seething. 

You just got into a massive argument with a family member. And now you storm out of the room.

How could he say such things? 

How could he be such a douchebag? 

Does he even care about you at all? 

​You slam the door behind you. Now alone in your room, your blood is on fire. You’re so angry you don’t know what to do. You just want to scream. 

Dudes say it all the time. 

"You gotta live in the moment.”

“If you’re having a bad day, just be present.” 

These cliche statements are easy to say. And for those who proudly declare them, it probably makes them feel cool, or like they know something you don’t. 

​But what do these sayings actually mean?

I’d like to take a moment to remind you that your life is awesome. Seriously. 

“But dude, how could you personally know my life is awesome? You have no idea of who I am or my situation.”

​True. But I can make some guesses based on the fact you’re reading this blog.

You’ve tried to kick caffeine. But damn. 

It’s frickin hard. 

Sometimes you go a few days without coffee. You start to feel confident until you have a restless night. 

You wake up, less than 5 hours of sleep under your belt, feeling like a zombie. And worse, you have a ton of work and are overwhelmed by the thought of completing it without caffeine. You’re so exhausted. 

Just one cup of coffee…

That’s all you need to energize yourself and knock out your huge workload. 

​But if you give in now, you’ll feel hopeless…ashamed you lack self control. If you can’t make it through a day without caffeine now, will you ever? 

What will people think?

What will you do next?

You couldn’t possibly give up. Could you?

No, you must push on. Only the weak, only losers would give up now. But not you. You are not a failure!

You must project an image of success. You wouldn’t dare let your friends, family, and colleagues question whether you “got it together”.

But it’s getting harder to ignore the feelings of self-doubt.

Deep inside you know that little voice is on to something.

But you choose to ignore it. You stare at your reflection in the mirror and think, “I can do this!”

But can you?

​And more importantly, should you?

It’s happened again. 

Anxiety rushes through your body. 

Your nerves are on hyper alert, your breath quickens, and your mind floods with fearful thoughts—you can’t calm yourself. 

If only you could make this feeling stop or prevent it. Well, maybe you can.

​You just need to ask yourself the right questions…

How did this happen again?

You hoped for a chill weekend lazying around—sleep in. Netflix. Perhaps some beers.

But those dreams are now gone…

You were guilted into someone else’s plans.

WTF.

Feelings of hopelessness wash over you. And you once again feel like a pushover. Pressured by your family, colleagues, or acquaintances to help them out.

What about you?

​When will you have time for yourself? And how can you break free from the cycle of “yes”?

Living in the moment.  

It sounds so easy. Especially when a celebrity or pro athlete casually mentions it on TV. 

You just live in the moment. You just be. You’re just present. 

Sounds simple enough. 

But how do you know if you’re actually present? I mean, you’re here right now, right? So that should mean you’re present. But everything doesn’t seem perfect, so doesn’t that mean you’re not present? 

​It can be frustrating and confusing to figure it out, which is why you could probably use some signals to clue you in. But before we get to those, why is it so damn difficult to tell whether you’re living in the moment?