I recently created a “Last Day of Your Life” challenge in which I asked participants to live their day and all its obligations with the presence of someone spending their last day on Earth.

During the challenge, I found immense depth in the pleasure and depth of sensation I experienced in this practice…

Feeling into existence at the beach, sinking my toes into warm sand, letting body fully open to the shock of cold salt water at the shoreline, noticing the swirling, bubbly sensations of tumbling inside a wave…
At home, really listening to the call of birds to each other from their respective branches.. With friends, the whimsical act of musical creation and sonic composition.. I felt like I didn’t require anything of my connections but peace and love.

With only the moment on my mind, I found I wanted nothing for the next. It was a shock to realize how often I have labeled these moments boring in the past.

Here’s what I realized.

To live freely in the stellar ecstasy of the moment, we must detach ourselves from the belief that we are powerless in our presence.

We have endless opportunities to connect with ourselves, our sensations and those around us… but we rarely take advantage of them. It is easy to blame things like our job, children, obligations and difficult relationships for taking us away from presence. And it’s easy to get sucked into the pressure to achieve yourself into relevance and keep boredom at bay.

In these instances, our focus is on wanting to “matter” to those around us rather than feel peace. It can be hard to believe and accept that we are CHOOSING to ignore the moment, until we ask ourselves what might be underneath that choice.

If we stop to process our external environment, we have to process our internal environment. Many of us carry so much trauma and intense feelings, but we were never taught how to acknowledge or process them. Endless achievement or distraction can seem like the only solution to the agony sitting underneath.

At its root, this challenge asked people to shift their focus to the present. In order to participate, a person first must take responsibility of their control over that focus muscle and choose to strengthen it.

You are More Powerful Than Any Distraction

Personally, I found my focus pulling away from the parameters I had set whenever I was with someone who wasn’t actively embodying the same level of awareness. For a majority of my day, however, I was fortunate enough to feel grounded in my commitment to presence because I had the privilege of interacting with others who conduct themselves that same way.

The hard part of the challenge: Many participants said they found it harder to remember as the day continued. They got swept back into the illusion of life and its endless drama, worry and perceived lack. That’s why we have to think so much about the future, isn’t it? Because we feel don’t have enough. We aren’t enough just as we are.

But do external circumstances really dictate our level of presence? Our capacity for joy?

No, we have the power to choose where we direct our attention. No matter how distracting our technology-infused life may be designed, it’s time for us to take responsibility for that.

Let the existence of the Do Not Disturb function be a model for your life. Sometimes, you have to turn the notifications off. You have the right to rest, for one day or a few hours, and have no idea what time it is… to just exist.

The takeaway:

1. Your presence is your responsibility. Take mindful moments throughout the day to bring yourself back to what’s important to you.
   
2. Next time you notice yourself starting sentences with, “I’m bored” or “I wish I was…” ask yourself what physical or emotional discomfort you might be avoiding in this moment.
   
3. You don’t have to move through your trauma alone. Chat with a therapist or energy worker about holding space for you while you process.
   
4. We don’t always have a choice with whom we spend our time because we have jobs and obligations. Choose to spend your free time around intentional humans who uplift you.