Mindfulness can help to 'Live in the present moment'

By:Reshma Jain

The Covid pandemic has brought about an upheaval among people causing high levels of stress and anxiety. Be it job losses, furloughs or losing loved ones, the pandemic has brought normal life to a grinding halt. However, there is an adage which says, “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” For this to happen, one must imbibe ‘Mindfulness’ in their daily lives, opine experts.

Mindfulness, in simple terms, is being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different. When situations and circumstances are out of control, there is nothing you can do about it. All that one can do is to accept the reality and tune their lives accordingly.

October 10 was observed as World Mental Health Day and Socio Story brings to you an interesting story of a platform called Mindful Love Tribe, founded in 2019 by

Shweta Advani from New Delhi. The core purpose of this initiative is empowering people with the tools to imbibe Mindfulness in their daily lives to enhance the quality of their lives and relationships. The seeds for initiating Mindful Love Tribe were sown when Shweta had an enriching experience while speaking to a person during her vacation in the Andamans. There were no distractions, no cell phones. It then struck her that if being wholly present with a friend can have such a positive impact and enrich the quality of their experience so much, what impact would it have on the quality of other’s lives and relationships if it is practised every day?

Mindfulness is a skill and not a luxury, opines Shweta. It is a necessity to realise our fullest potential and enhance the quality of our lives. It enables us to take charge of our lives and live an intentional life that is aligned with our goals instead of being stuck in our autopilot habits and patterns. “It is not a passive practise that we do while meditating for 15 to 20 minutes in a day but an active practise that turns into a lifestyle over a period of time,” stated Shweta, an MBA from IMT Ghaziabad.

During the period of lockdown, people had anxiety around all spheres of lives: Health, finances, career and relationships.

“With the onset of Covid and subsequent lockdown, the anxiety and stress that everyone was facing was very palpable and we decided to curate special online workshops to help people beat anxiety and build emotional resilience using Mindfulness. With each passing workshop, we saw people opening up about their issues and sharing what is causing them anxiety. It gave them a sense of solidarity when they shared their problems in a safe space and noticed that they are not alone in facing these issues,” shared Shweta.

Speaking on the need to have a healthy state of mind, Shweta opines that the most important skills to navigate through these tough times we are living in are having a calm mind and emotional resilience. A healthy and calm state of mind helps you to respond to situations instead of reacting impulsively. It makes an individual more resourceful and one can make better decisions that are more aligned with their life goals instead of living life in an auto-pilot mode.

Speaking from her experience, the young entrepreneur said, “Mindfulness as a practise plays a very important role in achieving a calm and healthy state of mind.

In our hustle culture, it becomes difficult for us to slow down and practice being present in the moment. Also for entertainment, we are constantly engaged with social media and other gadgets that hit us with instant dopamine gratification instead of giving us sustained happiness. It is important to slow down and take some time for ourselves by being in the present.”

It could be as simple as being mindful while eating and savouring the food we eat and going for walks in nature. “Body and mind are connected, so we need to be physically active and nourish our bodies with nutritious food and adequate sleep to have good mental health. Also investing in good quality relationships and social support systems has become increasingly important in today's times as for the first time we have been faced with a situation where our social lives have been hampered due to lockdown measures and loneliness has hit people like never before,” opines Shweta.

As Viktor Frankl puts it, "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom", mindfulness gives us access to this window of space to be able to respond with a calm mind.

Stating that the idea is to bring the art of mindfulness back in love which in turn helps in better communication, navigating conflicts mindfully and building deeper intimacy, Shweta added, “My endeavour at Mindful Love Tribe is to create safe spaces and workshops that can help people to realise their full potential by tapping into the super power of Mindfulness and their own invincible human spirit.”