The quality of living is determined not only by our material comforts, but also by the state of our mind. A person whose mind is filled with stress and anxiety cannot maintain healthy inter-personal relationship, attain her life goals and lead a fulfilling life. Many a times, the cause of our stress and anxiety is our obsession with the past or the future. MVIRDC World Trade Center organized an Empowerment Program for MSMEs by Brahma Kumaris on ‘How to be in the Present’

During the event, Sister Gayatri and Sister Neha explained with practical tips how to live in the present moment and clean our mind that is filled with negative emotions and thereby lead a stress-free life. Sister Gayatri explained how people’s mind is filled with regret, guilt, anger and other negative emotions as they are obsessed with their past events. She also highlighted how we miss the present moment by feeling insecure and anxious about future. Past moment is a history, future is a mystery and only the present moment is the golden moment, she remarked. Sister Gayatri suggested every individual to develop a healthy feeling of self-respect and self-esteem to overcome negative feelings such as regret, guilt-feeling and inferiority complex. She pointed out that life is a journey and not a destination; therefore, we should not be obsessed with destination and focus only on how to make the present moment fruitful.

Sister Neha pointed out how each one of us have a bank account called time and how every day we are gifted with 86,400 seconds in this account. This gift is not transferable, nor can we extend its validity. Each one of us should live in the present moment and make the most fruitful use of this time without worrying about future or regretting about the past. “The only pain every individual suffers is the one created by ourself by living in the past or future,” Sister Neha remarked.

Sister Neha recommended the participants to start our day by practicing mindful breathing exercise, yoga or meditation. She also suggested other useful tips to lead a stress-free life, such as accepting ourselves as we are, questioning our negative thoughts, evaluating our negative emotions, changing our perspectives and unhelpful habits, developing a passion in life and pursuing it religiously. She also suggested everyone to spend healthy time every day with our family members, where we exchange each other’s thoughts.

Sister Neha shared a few tips to bring our attention to the present moment by focusing on our senses, being conscious of our surroundings and appreciating little things in our life. In order to counter negative thoughts, she advised the participants to challenge negative self-talk, practice laughing therapy, expressing gratitude to Almighty for favourable things in life, accepting oneself and others, maintaining dairy of key events in our daily life and so on.

This interactive session was attended by business professionals and staffs of WTC Mumbai. Capt. Ramesh Gulati proposed vote of thanks for the event.