How to Focus on the Present | Stop Overthinking & Find Inner Peace

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:01]First of all, we have to realize that living in the present moment, focusing your mind to the present moment is not a simple thing. It is very hard but also it is an achievable target. Our great teacher supreme Buddha taught us you should not chase after the past and also you should not make too much expectations about the future. Supreme Buddha said what is past is left behind. It is gone.

[00:00:50]It is over. Now the future is yet to come. It hasn't reached yet.

[00:00:59]Buddha said, "What you have to do is live in the present moment and see the present moment as it is."

[00:01:16]Right? Realize the present moment as it is. So it is very hard to focus your mind to the present moment. Our great teacher supreme Buddha taught us the nature of the mind is it always runs to the past.

[00:01:34]Normally our mind has a habit to wander in the past memories right when we are alone when we are solitude and we when we live in our life alone lonely normally it is the nature our mind runs to the past.

[00:01:55]It lives in the past memories thinking about them. Sometimes you may regret about them. Sometimes you may be happy about them. Sometimes you may cry about them. Right? So that is the nature of our mind. It is always wandering in the past and also sometimes our mind try to make expectations too much expectations about the future.

[00:02:21]Right? People dream too much about their future but they do not work for the dreams to come true.

[00:02:31]So our great teacher Supreme Buddha taught us you should not let your mind to wander in the past as well as you should not let your mind to go for the future and make too much expectations about that.

[00:02:49]What you have to do is you have to work in the present moment to make your future better as well as to make your past better. Because when you live correctly in the present moment, right, your past will be a good one because you have lived in the correct way. And also if you are sure that you are living correctly in the right way in the present moment your future will be also a good one because you are doing the right thing right now. So you need to have a good practice to uh have focus your mind to the present moment.

[00:03:39]So it should be practiced by meditation as well as you it should be practiced in the practical world in your life. So I will teach you some tricks or things that you should practice in your life to be in the present moment.

[00:03:59]Right? So when you have a free time right dedicate yourself to live in the present moment for a little time. During the day when you have the free time allocate your time about 5 minutes to live in the present moment. Sit on a chair. You can close your eyes and just experience that you are in your present. You are not in your past. You are not in your future.

[00:04:33]Always you are in your in your present.

[00:04:37]That is the reality. Right? The past has gone as well as the future hasn't come yet. Right? So close your eyes and just try to focus your mind to the present moment. Try to think about what you what you feel, what you hear and uh what you think about all the things that you experience now will fade away to the past and it will be it will go to the arena of past.

[00:05:15]Right?

[00:05:16]So take your time in the day and practice this. The best way to focus your mind to the present moment is the breathing meditation.

[00:05:28]Breathing meditation is one of the best meditations that you can bring your mind from the arena of past and the future to the present moment. Because the breath when you when you are focusing on your breath right always the breath arises and it goes down so this breath prevails in the present. So when you focus that when you focus your mind to the breath then your mind is always in the present moment.

[00:06:03]And also you have to practice to live in the present moment. in your practical life, in your day-to-day life. So how to do that? So it is very beneficial to live in the present when you are in the hard times when you are going through a problem. Now suppose if a person comes to you and started blaming you.

[00:06:27]Now when he is blaming you, you hear that sound the words right? When we think about these words right when he is blaming you hear that and after that very moment it has gone to the arena of past those words are not prevailing anymore right but our mind does not like to think that our mind clings to those words right our mind tries to hold on to those words and what our mind does is it always make a loop like thing to bring back all those thoughts, all those words again and again to our mind and that is why we are suffering. That is why we feel hurt.

[00:07:18]Right? If we can realize the reality that all these words that that I heard has gone to the past, they are not no longer here anymore. They have vanished.

[00:07:33]then you don't want to suffer or anything right because it has gone to the past you cannot do anything about that but our mind is not ready for that right our mind tries to cling to those words right so what you have to do when someone blames you when you are going through a hard time realize that that these all those things are impermanent and it is it vanishes very quickly from my life. So I don't want to worry about them. Right? So if you are living in the present moment correctly, doing the correct thing, doing the right thing, doing good things, you don't want to worry about the past as well as you don't want to worry about the future. Of course, you can you can make the plans for the future, no problem. But do not dream too much about it because the more we dream it is like we are stopping our vehicle and just looking at towards the road without driving. Right? The more we dream we feel jealous about the achievers that who achieve our goals.

[00:08:52]Right? So it is like you are stopping your vehicle on the road and looking the looking at the vehicles that pass by.

[00:09:02]You're not driving, right? You can you can make your plans, you can make your goals, but do not dream too much about it. Just start work for it, working for it. Right? So the dream becomes a goal when you are working on it only. So if you can live in the present doing the correct thing doing what should be done now you don't want to worry about the past as well as you don't want to worry about the future. So in that way you will have a life without regret and without worrying about the future and the past and live your life in the present moment and be happy by your life.

[00:09:51]Sai. Now one of our viewers have asked a question from us that what is true love according to the Buddhism.

[00:10:03]Well, when we talk about the topic love, remember as humans, as beings in this world, we all seek love and affection in our life, right? All living beings needs love to live. So when we talk about the topic love, it is a vast and a broad topic, right? Love can be found in many ways.

[00:10:37]But the basic and the base for all these kinds of love is the kindness and the compassion. But most oftenly people may misunderstand the love and the attachment.

[00:10:55]Right? When we come to the topic of love between the partners, the male and females, boys and girls, many of the boys and girls, they doesn't know what is true love and what is attachment.

[00:11:15]Now there is a distinct difference between true love and attachment.

[00:11:24]So what is that difference?

[00:11:26]Well, when someone loves another person, he will say, "I need you to be happy by being with me."

[00:11:40]Right?

[00:11:42]In the other hand, if someone being attached to some person, he will always say that why are you not making me happy?

[00:11:56]Right? So there is a big difference between these two expressions.

[00:12:01]When someone loves another person, he will say, "I I need you to be happy by being with me." That means you are trying to give something to someone, right? You're always trying to give the happiness to a person.

[00:12:20]But if you are being attached to someone, right? If you are being if you're developing lustful ideas towards someone, your mind will say why are you not making me happy? You need to make me happy.

[00:12:40]So that is based on the selfishness, right? The true love is based on unselfishness.

[00:12:51]Right? In the true love there are there are many things many good assets. They are the love, kindness, compassion, patience. These are the basic uh qualities that leads to the true love.

[00:13:11]Right? If you're loving someone, you need to be kind to that person.

[00:13:18]You need to be compassionate to that person. You need to feel the sadness of th those people.

[00:13:25]Now when we talk about the topic compassion, compassion means to suffer with other people. That means if you can feel the pain that is hidden inside the people's life, if you can if you can feel and become uh empathy, you can feel the empathetic feeling about them, then that is called compassion. If you can share the pain that is in another person person with you, then that is compassion.

[00:13:59]So in true love you need to have that sharing ability and also you need to have the kindness you need to always wish the well-being of that person right you need always to wish the good of that person that is how you love truly our Great teacher Supreme Buddha gave a wonderful explanation for the love.

[00:14:33]Supreme Buddha said, "Maurak as a mother who loves her only child, you should spread that same love to the to every person in this world."

[00:14:56]So when we talk about mother's love parents they does not expect anything from us instead they love them love us now when we were small right we were doing so many terrible things to our parents right have you seen that the the babies do so many terrible things to the their parents right they drag from their hair they pinch them they cry They yell, but yet the parents still love their children.

[00:15:32]So when someone is truly loving someone, it's like it's they they're holding them firmly and they're nurturing them, right?

[00:15:45]But if you are attached to a person, you always expect the things from others, right? You always expect the things that fulfill your desires, right? When someone is attached and when someone is being lustful for someone, that means he's always expecting to fulfill every fulfillment and desire from that person. You're not trying to give something. Always you are trying to get something from that person, right?

[00:16:20]It's like you are holding on to something tightly, right? Suppose you are drawing a cow or a bull. You're holding that cow or a bull from a rope. So when that animal tries to escape, what you have what you are doing is you are holding it tightly. Right? The more you hold it tightly, you are the one who is getting hurt.

[00:16:52]Right? You are the one who is getting hurt. If you can let go, what will happen?

[00:16:58]You are not getting hurt anymore.

[00:17:02]So when you are being attached to a person, you will always get hurt. And you will never fulfill your desires because desires and sensual desires they never get fulfilled there. We cannot make ourselves satisfied from those things.

[00:17:20]Okay. So that is what do you call the attachment.

[00:17:25]In attachment you hold on to uh things tightly. There's a great quote that describes about love. If you like a flower, right? If you like a flower, you will pluck that flower.

[00:17:45]But if you love a flower, you will water the plant that flower plant.

[00:17:55]So if you love someone, what you have to do? You have to say that I need you to be happy with me.

[00:18:06]Right? I always wish the happiness of your life. If that happiness includes me, that is better. But if it is not in that case also I need you to be happy.

[00:18:19]That is how you love truly. And that is the difference between the true love and the attachment. Right? In true love you don't expect anything from the person but still you try to give the happiness to them. In attachment you always expect the things from people and still you will never be satisfied from them.

[00:18:48]So choose to love the people correctly.

[00:18:51]If you choose to love people correctly then you will be a peaceful person throughout your life.