We’ve all had those days where we just don’t feel all there. It could be during a friend’s party, where you struggle to stay jovial and laugh while stuck in your worried thoughts. Or it could be during more somber occasions, where you feel detached from the same sadness that is weighing on everyone else.
Living in the moment is often a challenge, even for those who practice mindfulness regularly. In this animation from School of Life, Alain de Botton shares four ways you can reconnect with the present experience.
1. Recognize you may not always feel how you’re meant to—and that’s ok.De Botton explains that life is full of moments where we are expected to feel certain things towards certain situations. On birthdays, we’re meant to feel happy. On funerals, we’re meant to feel sad. In reality, our emotions can be much more complex.
“Our thoughts are seldom exactly in sync with outward events,” de Botton says. “They have tendencies to be vagabond, unfaithful and unruly. We rarely feel exactly what we’re meant to when we’re meant to.”
Our emotions tend to move far…
