In this solo talk, Vivek George (MindHome) explains why present‑moment awareness is essential for happiness and offers concrete ways to develop it. Drawing on his own struggles with anxiety and his daily Vipassana practice, he likens the mind to a muscle that can be trained through meditation and simple everyday habits such as mindful eating, brushing teeth, walking, standing in line, yoga, and positive affirmations. He warns that multitasking and excessive phone use strengthen the opposite muscle—distraction—making it harder to stay present. He also notes that awareness alone isn’t enough; knowledge and wisdom are needed to respond skillfully to life’s challenges. The video ends with a call to pause, reflect, and practice presence, encouraging viewers to share their own experiences.
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Today we go into how living in awareness can make you happy. Many teachers and gurus and saints, uh, talk about this or talk about being in the present, but I've struggled with their answers, oftentimes feeling like they're a little too high level, not really getting into the detail of how awareness can actually help us be happy. And today, hopefully, I will break down this subject in a way that is understandable for you as I dived into dive into this for myself. Hey guys, it's Vivek from MindHome once again. Excited to dive into the subject about how living in awareness can make us happy. For me, this was a very personal subject as well. I've struggled with my own anxiety, self-worth issues, stress, all these type of things. And I was constantly looking for an answer. And I often heard about how being present in the moment was where we are most happy, but I didn't understand how to get there or what that really meant. And in this video, hopefully I'll be able to break down precisely all these different components and make it in a way that makes sense for you. I learned a lot about the subject through researching this on my own, talking to different teachers and, and different practices. Most helpful was my most recent work with Vipassana meditation where I meditate daily. It's brought a lot of clarity on this subject matter. Stick around until the very end because there's an additional component that is essential to really being fully happy. It starts with this. If you think about it, when are we most happy? Is it when we're thinking about the past, a moment in the past that occurred? Imagining the future? No, it's when we're in the moment. It's when we're having this amazing dinner with friends or family, or, you know, playing a sport that we love, or doing some activity that we really are very passionate about in the moment, in the present. What about for you? What activities or things do you like to do that you're most passionate about, that you're most present with? Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear what our community is most into. So if the present is where we're most happy, how do we actually get to be in that moment? How do we actually get to be in the present? Well, the present requires awareness. If we're thinking about the past or imagining the future, we're doing just that. We're imagining, we're dreaming up things that are not in the moment, they're not in the present. And the more of that we do, the less we are present. Our minds are a bit like muscles. The more we practice a certain behavior, the more that behavior becomes ingrained within us. That's why athletes or musicians often practice so, so much on the same thing over and over again, because they're learning that habit and they're building that muscle memory. And the same is true when it comes to how we use our minds. If we're thinking about the past and/or imagining the future, we're developing that habit and engraving that more and more into our life. So if we want to build awareness, if we want to be in the moment, we have to practice being in the moment constantly. And the more we practice being in the moment, the happier we are. But how do we actually develop awareness? How do we develop being in the moment? Don't worry, I got you. Like I said before, our minds are like muscles. And how do you strengthen any muscle? With practice. So there's a couple ways to actually practice this muscle of presence and being in the moment, which I can explain. So the most traditional way of learning how to be in the moment is through meditation, focusing on something like your breath coming in and out of your nose. By focusing on your breath coming in and out of your nose, you're focusing literally on the present, right? You can't focus on your breath 2 minutes ago or, you know, 5 minutes in the future. You can only focus on your breath in this very moment. So by practicing meditation and especially that type of meditation, can help you learn to be in the moment. And I'm going to create a link probably right around here where there's a video from my old teacher, Essan Wanka, teaching you how to focus on your breath if you don't know how to do that. While meditation is like the gym for your mind, you can also develop this muscle of awareness or presence through doing some simple tasks or habits by and being fully aware while doing them. So a couple of them, for example, are just having a meal or a cup of coffee or a drink and being fully aware of that meal or that drink that you're having. Another one could be brushing your teeth. When you're brushing your teeth, instead of thinking about anything else, just focus on actually brushing your teeth and feeling the sensation of your brush against your teeth. It could be even walking. Maybe taking 5, 10 steps and not thinking about anything else besides the steps that you're taking. It could even be simple things like standing in line and just feeling your weight of your body on your legs. Maybe doing yoga and being very focused on either your breath or the pose that you're in and not thinking about anything else. Even positive affirmations is a way of being fully present. It's by telling yourself, I'm actually gonna say this to myself. You're saying, I'm being fully aware. So there's lots of different ways to practice awareness. Find what works for you and try to do that on a regular basis to help develop being present and in the moment. By doing both of these things, meditation and working on these simple habits, you can really strengthen over time your awareness muscle and live a happier life. But remember, multitasking is literally the opposite. Even perhaps negative, because you're then strengthening this other muscle, which is the muscle of not being fully aware. Also, our phones, our phones are super distractive. They're a mini entertainment center, and not to be much different than our actually dreaming in our own heads. Our minds don't have eyes. They just basically take information from our senses and create a reality for us. And when we're either looking at our phones or dreaming something up, it's pretty similar. Basically just entertainment. What about for you? What, uh, things or devices or activities oftentimes distract you from being in the present? So try to remember to continue to focus your full attention on any particular habit or practice you're doing. And combined with meditation, over time you will develop a very strong mental awareness. As I mentioned at the start of the video, awareness isn't the only piece of making sure that we are happy. There's another key component: knowledge and wisdom. So what do I mean by that? Well, so for example, if someone says something rude to you or bumps into you, you can be fully aware that that thing occurred, but without wisdom or knowledge, you might get really angry and upset. In that moment, losing any hope of happiness. But with wisdom as well, instead of getting angry, we can calmly address the situation, perhaps by letting it go or thoughtfully talking to the person in a way that allows us to quickly get back to our life. Knowledge and wisdom is a complex subject, so we'll definitely get into this in another video, but this is just a peek that while awareness is essential, wisdom is a key piece as well. Until then, If you're not feeling happy or something's bothering you, just try to take a moment, pause, and reflect. You're probably thinking about something in the past or worrying about something that might come up in the future. And try to be present with whatever is in front of you, whether it's a friend, a book you're reading, some food you're eating. Try to be fully present and aware of what's happening in that moment. I hope I was able to break down the concept of how awareness can make us happy. If you like this video, please consider giving us a like. If you think there's a friend that could use this video, definitely share with them and subscribe to the channel. Thanks for tuning in and remember, keep your awareness on the present.
