Being in the present, conscious and awake to the beauty around you is a gift. We can chose to live with heightened awareness and become increasingly conscious of what’s going on both inside us and all around.

By bringing attention to the body and tuning into feelings there, we become conscious of what’s going on within us. Very often we live in our heads, analyzing and disconnected from the body and our emotions. We are very often unaware of the messages our feelings bring. Through being in tune with our breath, our heartbeat, our skin and muscles we can detect tension, feel excitement, acknowledge hurt feelings and express and release them in constructive ways.

Just for a moment, tune in to yourself. Use your heightened awareness to connect with how you feel. Do you feel rushed? Stressed? Content? Joyful? At peace? By giving yourself the gift of being in the present, you can chose to consciously acknowledge the feelings and decide how to react to the messages they bring you. If you notice your breath is shallow from strain, make an effort to breathe more deeply. Inhale, filing all of your lungs. If your fists and jaws feel tight, clench them consciously then let the muscles relax. From this place of awareness you can create a better life.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.