Full presence (or mindfulness) increases our sensitivity to the positive emotions we experience on a daily basis. If it is so closely associated with the notion of well-being, it is because it offers us the possibility of reconnecting with ourselves.
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Full presence (we also say Mindfulness Where Mindfulness in English) is the mental state that one achieves when one experiences the present moment.
What is Full Presence?
The world specialist in the discipline, Jon Kabat-Zinn, defines it itself as awareness, at any time and without judgment, our physical thoughts, feelings and sensations as well as our environment.
Practicing full presence is thus focusing on the moment that we are living, without thinking about the past or imagining the future. In other words, it is giving up doing one thing while thinking of another.
The terminology “without judgment” evokes the idea that we focus on our thoughts and emotions without trying to evaluate them, that is to say without asking if there is a good and a bad way of living or feeling the present moment. You have to accept it as it is, that’s all.
A daily experience
Every day, we all live moments of Mindfulness without even knowing it ; by listening to a song that you like, by appreciating the beauty of nature or by practicing an activity that you love.
These experiences may seem trivial at first glance, but they have a very special interest. They encourage focus on what we are really doing : in those moments, we don’t think about the past and we don’t worry about the future anymore …
“The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it’s open. “
Franck Zappa
Research in positive psychology have shown that when you take a break to observe the environment or to immerse yourself in a pleasant activity (it can even be a professional task), you feel good and we gain serenity.
It’s so easy to do that we can multiply these moments of Mindfulness throughout the day.
How to get started
You can try now:
- Take five breaths deep, then notice the subtle movements of your body (especially in the stomach) as you inhale and exhale.
- Close your eyes and identify five different noises or sounds you hear around you.
- In the shower, try to take the time to experience as many sensations as possible: the drops of water on your body, the scent of the soap, the sound of the water jet, the temperature of the water, the texture of the washcloth. toilet on your skin …
Every day you can decide to deactivate “autopilot mode” to experience moments of Full Presence. Sensations of well-being guaranteed …
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The Relationship Between Full Presence and Happiness
We saw it, when we enter a state of Full presence, we are aware of our thoughts, feelings, movements and behaviors without judging or interpreting them.
It is a practice accessible to all that can be learned through meditation exercises, but also informal practices during daily activities.
About ten years ago, Dr Killingsworth came up with the idea for the app trackyourhappiness.org to study the happiness of people at any time of the day. Operation is simple: the app sends random messages to people
to ask them about their specific activity and their level of happiness at that moment of the day.
It has collected 650,000 recordings from more than 15,000 people, aged 18 to 80, in more than 80 countries around the world. This represented a wide range of individuals with varying incomes, levels of education and marital status.
His conclusion: What makes people happy has much less to do with what they do than with their level of concentration during activity.
People who are focused on their experience of the present moment (in other words, people in Full Presence) are generally happier than those with wandering minds.
For example, people don’t like going to work very much. They consider it a waste of time. Yet they are considerably happier when they are focused on their journey than when their minds are occupied with other thoughts (even if those thoughts are directed towards happy and positive things).
