Being in the moment v. Caught up in it

Your body is a marvel of design. The systems inside your body move faster than your conscious mind can process. In fact, you’re mostly unaware of the signals and processes these systems rely on to keep you alive. Yet they are occurring every fraction of every second inside your body. 

Even more mind blowing is how your body stores memories. Memories are not just a function of your brain. Your body stores them up as well. When you smell that fragrance that takes you back to the kitchen of your childhood, that memory was stored by your nose. When you tense up as the pitch is coming toward you, that’s stored up in your gut from when you were hit by a pitch. You get the idea. Your body will elicit a memory far quicker than your conscious mind. 

This is the gap that creates the “I was caught up in the moment” regret. Several key things to understand about the process: 1) an environmental stimulus 2) leads to a physical reaction 3) stored up from a prior event 4) linked to a specific emotion 5) before you’re even consciously aware of it. All of this happens in a fraction of a second. To get caught up in the moment happens when you go into auto-pilot mode in response to what your body is feeling without recognizing the deeper connection to what it is responding to; a past hurt, a past fear, a past pain.

Being in the moment occurs when you allow yourself to be completely conscious of what your body is feeling in the moment and linking that physical response with the proper mental responseaught. It is a good bet that when you “fly off the handle” or “lose your mind”, it’s linked to a memory stored up inside your body. Learning to listen to how your body reacts in a situation will provide insights into how you can move away from getting caught up in the moment to being in the moment. 

You start to take control of yourself which will inevitably lead you to a deeper understanding of who you are. A beautiful combination of design (nature) and experience (nurture).