All we have is the present moment. Too often, we let our thoughts steal the present by thinking about the past or future:

As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.

-Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Reflect on the most enjoyable moment of your life. Did this moment involve thinking, or were you completely focused on an activity? Chances are, you were completely focused on an activity. When you become intensely conscious of the present moment, you create a gap in thinking, in which you are highly alert and aware. Those who have meditated have experienced this enjoyable state of consciousness.

There is no off switch for your mind

Our minds are always running automatically, and we are addicted to thinking. So how can we experience this more enjoyable state of consciousness more often, in which we are truly living in the moment? To do this, we must give our normal daily activities the fullest attention, so that they become an end in themselves.

For example, yesterday I was shining my shoes, which is typically a mundane activity for me. But this time, I purposefully focused my attention completely on the activity, ensuring I didn’t miss a single spot and applying the right amount of shoe shine. To my surprise, the activity became highly enjoyable. It had become an end in itself, while in the past, it had been a means to an end.

Stopping your thoughts from stealing the present moment

Your past and future have no reality- your only reality is the present. As you focus on the past or future, your present moment becomes stolen. The more you focus in the present, the more alive and conscious you become.

When you are walking through your house or place of work, notice every step you make, every movement, and your breathing. Focus completely on the activity without thinking. Do this for all of your daily activities. You will begin to feel a level of inner peace that you had never felt before.

Negative emotions come from thinking too much about the past or future

Fear, stress and worry come from too much focus on the future. Guilt, sadness and regret come from too much focus on the past. When your focus is on the present, you free yourself from these negative emotions.

Three tips for living in the present

1)      Focus on your daily activities as an end in themselves, without thinking about the past or future

2)       Do not judge yourself when you drift between living in the present and the past or future. Do become aware of the times when you are not focused on the present

3)       Continue practicing and choosing to focus your consciousness in the present. You will become better at this, until focus on the present moment becomes your predominate state

photo credit: stop.down

Economists and psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness, and they have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter.

-Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

The difference in happiness between Americans who earn $50,000 and those that earn $10,000 per year is significant. But the difference in happiness between Americans making $100,000 per year and $5 million per year is not significant. This has been proven in countless scientific studies.

So why do those making a decent income believe that more money will make them significantly happier? They have a super-replicating false belief:

Super-Replicating Belief: A Belief that has some property which facilitates its own transmission, which makes it be held by an increasing number of minds.

The production of wealth does not necessarily make individuals happy, but it does serve the needs of an economy, which serves the needs of a stable society. Society serves as a network for propagating this false belief because a healthy economy means the survival of the current system:

Economies thrive when individuals strive, but because individuals will only strive for their own happiness, it is essential that they mistakenly believe that producing and consuming are routes to personal well-being.

-Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

If money doesn’t make us happier, what does? Here are three tips for living a happier life:

Tips for Being Happier

1) Create meaningful goals

Identify what you’d like to achieve in your life. Set a time frame. Write it down.

Example- I’d like to write a book on Dog Training. I will complete my first draft by writing five pages per day for the next two months.

2) Enjoy the day to day process of realizing these goals

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that “I’ll be happy once I achieve my goals”- all you have is now, the present moment. Find meaning in your day-to-day activities, working towards your goals. If you aren’t enjoying your day-to-day activities, maybe you have the wrong goals.

3) Appreciate your life

Appreciate your life- don’t take it for granted. An easy way to instill the habit of gratefulness is to keep a daily log of five things you are grateful for. You may find yourself repeating the same things in your list from day to day, but that’s okay. The objective is to create a positive habit of focusing on what you are grateful for.