If you aren’t familiar with the concept of being (in the) present, let me quickly bring you up to speed. We lead our daily lives stormed by visual stimuli. They bombard us at every step from the moment we go out into the real or the digital world. That is slowly starting to wear people down. The reason is that from an evolutionary standpoint the increased amount of visual signals make us more alert and push us in fight-or-flight mode. Thus, it takes time for our brain to cope with all this stimulation especially after a day full of staring at screens.

Not only do we have a ton of visuals constantly grepping for our attention but as Homo sapiens we form impressions based on those signals that in turn augment our model of the world and ultimately influence our thinking. So when you finally close the laptop lid, put down the phone and close your eyes you cannot fall asleep. This could be due to the amount of blue light that has woken up your brain, the thoughts that are flying in your consciousness or anything in between.

In order to remedy this many people - including myself - have adopted the idea of staying present. I believe that there are different ways to interpret this. Mine are:

• slow things down - take off the train one stop before home and walk the rest of the way
• do simple stuff - read a book, put a puzzle together
• say “c’est la vie” to things you don’t control - e.g. train is late, it’s raining
• spend time with your parents/loved ones/friends
• you are not your possessions - so if one of them gets broken/stolen/lost, keep calm and see what can be done (DIY of consumerism)

All of these I’d say deserve a post on their own but the initial reason for writing this post is the first point. Occasionally I like to split my commute in a such a way that I get to walk a good 30 minutes. What I have found fascinating is that if you really want to become present a simple trick is to start looking at the facades and most importantly the rooftops of the buildings on the street where you currently are. It is important to watch where you step, of course! Having done that take a look at what’s above you. I am lucky to be able to wonder around in streets I don’t primarily walk on. I find pleasure in discovering that some architects left some nuggets only for the curious ones.

In short - pick your head up, watch and think about where you are going but don’t forget to enjoy trip.