24: The Power of Presence: 6 Proven Benefits of Mindfulness

What if the secret to a healthier, happier life was simply...being more present and mindful? 

In this episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry dive into the transformative power of mindfulness and how embracing the present moment can change everything.

They reveal 6 science-backed benefits of presence; but, this conversation goes beyond theory — it’s about learning how to fully engage with each moment to elevate your quality of life, happiness, and sense of fulfillment. If you’re ready to slow down, stress less, and thrive more, this episode is for you!

🎧 Tune in now and discover how a sense of presence and mindfulness can transform your daily experience!

#MindfulnessMatters #BePresent #StressRelief #EmotionalWellbeing #GroupXAppeal #PersonalGrowth

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- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
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- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
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Transcript

Welcome to group X appeal Terry shorter here with Kimberly Glick click So we've made it here to episode number 24 24 25 I At least I'm living in the future not the past. That's right. Don't don't look in the rearview mirror. Let's look ahead That's what the why the windshield is much bigger than that little rearview mirror. Right? It's fact. So

As you may have known, or if you didn't know, of course, our last episode, we just got back from recording episode 23 with couples and relationship therapist, Jonathan VanViegan, who had an amazing time with So incredible. What a great guy. For sure. And we're going to reference him in just a moment because today, though, we're talking about being fully present, being here in the moment because not only is it good for your overall health and well-being,

but there's really science-based benefits for our overall being that we're gonna share with you today. And there's a total of six of them that we'll share today. And what do you say we kind of ping pong them back and forth? I'll ping you pong. I pong you Or you wanna ping, I'll pong. Or we can both ping pong. But you have to say it like that. Ping pong. I refuse.

So being present, would say benefit number one is it helps reduce stress. helps reduce any anxiety that you may be experiencing. You know, focusing on the current moment. It really does help decrease those areas of challenges by simply just shifting our mindset, right? Away from stressful thoughts about the past or the future and just being here in the very moment that we're in right now.

For me personally, my presence practice, I think I showed this in one of the past episodes, really came when I went through my yoga teacher training. Because I was always about looking ahead, looking forward, what's next, what's the next goal that I want to reach and accomplish. And was really, I think, missing out on a lot of really valuable, juicy things in life. And since going through that training, that was one of the big, takeaways, the big golden nuggets that I got.

Kimberly/terry (02:12.154)
And I'm now finally really enjoying the here, the now, the moment and, right here, right now in the moment he's with you. Exactly. Exactly. He was so smart. So, yeah. So reduced stress and anxiety. And for you, you know, being present, how does that happen? there, there have been a lot of studies with regards to our thoughts, you know, our thoughts are the things we're focusing on. And I, depending on the study,

I think they've determined we have anywhere from what 50 to 90,000 thoughts a day. The vast majority of them are repetitive and- Apparently have a lot more. Obviously. Yes. Because you guys are way smarter, wicked smarter. We've got the big brains. But so often our thoughts are either focused on worry or regret and they're repetitive and they're negative. They replaying over and over again like a broken record.

And so our ability to be more present, being more mindful in the moment with our focus on the here and now it takes us away from our worries about what's coming or regrets about what's past. Right. It's huge. Right. Well, that's one of the big benefits. So emotional, you know, wellbeing or basically stress and anxiety first, I kind of jumped into yours and my apologies. So the second benefit of being in the here and the now,

You know what, my friend, I appreciate you jumping into my emotional wellbeing. You make me a happier person. It's a good thing. Glad to hear. So if you haven't figured it out, the second tip we want to share with you that is backed by science is the fact that being more present, being more mindful will improve your emotional wellbeing. Now, I don't know if you remember these, these first two points actually, um, reference an episode that we did was back in episode nine with regards to emotional wellbeing, because emotional wellbeing is definitely in part based on

being able to manage stress in your life because emotional wellbeing is associated with having a better mood, reducing symptoms of depression, increasing the sense of overall happiness. And that is all going to be based on what it is you're looking at, like what you're focusing on in your life and how you're choosing to see it. And so when you can be focused on the present moment, and I would even say, I would go so far as to say from an emotional wellbeing standpoint,

Kimberly/terry (04:29.838)
looking around you in the present moment and finding things to appreciate. Yeah, being way more grateful for. That is a huge, huge bump in our emotional wellbeing that it's been really powerful me for powerful. Powerful me. Well, you're powerful too Kimberly. And you flex too. I did, you know, try not to, you know, bust the seams. it's been powerful for me to challenge myself.

Don't make me come over there, Terry Shorter. But it's been powerful for me, and that is what I meant to say, to look around for things, to be so present that I can look around for things to appreciate. Because when you look around in the here and now for things to appreciate, you will always find them. Always. If you choose to, you can always find things to be frustrated by too, but that's the thing. It's a choice. Yeah, absolutely. And that's not productive at all. It doesn't feel good. It just creates way more stress and way more anxiety. It's icky. It is icky.

So the third benefit of being right here and now in the present is enhanced cognitive function, right? So it's brain food. Being present is really, it's truly linked. Science has proven it's linked to improved attention and focus and productivity. You know, for as parents, right? When Tina and I were raising our daughter, Tawnie, Kione,

we had to literally set aside what we called Tawnie Time And Tawnie Time meant putting away our mobile devices, our cell phones, putting away our computers, our laptops, putting everything away, making sure the TV was off so we can be present with her in that moment. just really all of our focus, all of our attention, which meant all of our love to just put and pour into her.

from like five o'clock in the afternoon, soon as we were supposed to be done with work, even though we're, you know, working on our own business until she went to sleep. And so nothing, no emails, nothing, no text messages. was truly tawny time. And, and of course that helped reduce stress and anxiety as well as again, improved our focus with her. And did that help, help improve your focus outside of that time as well? Because that would just be something that is almost like a form of conditioning when you condition yourself to be

Kimberly/terry (06:55.726)
in the moment to be present, in that moment it was with your daughter, but in other moments maybe it is with work or with each other, whatever the case may be and that's pretty powerful. Yeah, think, yeah, very true. It's kind of like they say, you're more productive when you're about to go away on vacation. You get more done. Oh, that's interesting. I don't think I've heard that. Yeah, because you know that, okay, I have a flight to catch or I to get on the road at such and such time. You get more done. You're way more productive.

when you have that scheduled time or something that you're looking forward to. We were really looking forward to spending time making tawny time and knocked out everything we needed to get knocked out before that time came around. I love that. That's really cool. So another tip for you that's backed by science with regards to being fully present, better sweep sleep. You better sweep what? You better sweep.

Words are really hard for me today, but it's okay. teached you how to spoke?

Oh no, better sleep quality. Maybe I need to take a nap. you do a power nap today? I didn't. Maybe that's a problem. it is. But practicing mindfulness and being more fully present, it can lead to improved sleep because it gives you the ability to kind of condition your brain to quiet those racing thoughts, what we call in yoga the vrittis. And the vrittis, yes, these like just thoughts that are constantly racing. As we mentioned before, there have been

studies that have shown we have anywhere from what 50 to 90,000 thoughts a day. That's a lot of stuff going on up there. So being able to kind of train ourselves to quiet those thoughts a bit can make it much easier to stay asleep, to fall asleep. And I don't know about you, I think you do this as well, but I kind of sandwich my day with a presence practice. We've talked about this. We start our day. I start my day with a presence practice. And then with regards to sleep, I always end my day with a presence practice because to be able to

Kimberly/terry (08:57.42)
go into my sleep in a good state of mind, I think what they used to say, and probably still say, I don't know, but the whole don't go to bed angry, I think that's really powerful advice. And so don't go to bed frustrated, don't go to bed overwhelmed, don't go to bed sad, don't go to bed fearful, like go to bed in a positive state of mind and you will get better sleep. How do you get to a better state of mind? Mindfulness, having more awareness of the present moment, and again, in my opinion, finding

something to appreciate as you drift off into soul land as Wayne Dyer used to call it. Yeah. Yeah. And like you were saying, it's not very difficult to find those things that you're grateful for reflecting, especially at the end of the day, reflecting on all the good things that happen, all the good encounters that you had, the new relationships or conversations and opportunities that you created for sure. Absolutely. So we talk more about that by the way, sleep quality.

In episode number seven. Oh, yeah, we did the one about rest and recovery. Yeah, that's where we did talk about power naps and the importance of it. And yet I still didn't make time to do it today It's not too late. You still can get it in maybe maybe He's gonna do the next episode on his own and I'm a little ball So and it's a great day to do it too by the way out here in Southern California in this moment and we don't like to timestamp our stuff but we were both excited because

where it's raining for the next three days here in Southern California, much needed rain. need it. Yes, we do. And we're gonna go hiking and find a waterfall. It's raining. I cannot wait. Cannot wait. So that'll make it much more fun to curl up and hit that power nap. the fifth one is strengthen relationships. You when we are present in the moment, it kind of again goes back to, for me, tawny time. Being fully present during interactions, it does enhance empathy.

It does improve your listening skills, right? God gave us one mouth and two ears, right? So not the other way around. And it fosters deeper, more authentic connections with others. going back to, you know, what Jonathan was talking about, Van Viggen, the couples therapist in episode number 23, we talked a lot about strengthening relationships, whether it is intimate, romantic relationship or

Kimberly/terry (11:19.406)
friendships. Yeah. You know, and there's some really great tips that he gave there. Definitely. Or the relationship with yourself. Yeah. The most important relationship. Yes, indeed. Absolutely. The one that impacts all the others. So the sixth and final benefit that we have for you with regards to presence of mind and mindfulness, increased creativity. When your mind is, is clear of distractions and worries, it becomes more open to

ideas and innovative solutions impulses and such that and inspirations and it results in boosting creativity. So if you ever find yourself either up against a problem that needs a solution, bring yourself into a presence practice. Just get fully present in the moment, whether it's guided or just sitting with your breath or with music or listening to the rain. We're listening to the rain right here right now.

or you're just finding the need to come up with a new idea or a new step forward on the path that you're on right now, whether it's in your personal life or your professional life, get quiet, know, get rid of the distractions, go inward. And at the end of the day, that's when your mind is going to be more open and receptive to that idea is the thoughts, the collaborative components, the inspirations, the impulses to move you forward in your life. And.

I just think, you I love all of these tips and I love that they're backed by science, but I think it just makes sense that the way you're gonna get the most out of any experience in your life is to show up for it. The way you're gonna get the most out of anything you do is to be present for it because we have such a tendency to be on autopilot. There's nothing wrong with autopilot. That's a primal function of the brain. The brain will take you to autopilot as often as possible because it reserves energy.

And when you save energy, the brain feels like you have a better chance for survival. So our brain is designed to help us survive. But the more often we can get out of autopilot and into manual mode, really experiencing our lives in the moment, well then you get to experience all these benefits. Absolutely. it's, you know, and it's tough to do it nowadays. When I talked about, you know, we literally had to not just turn our phones off or our ringers off, we had to put them away out of hand, out of arm's reach. so we weren't

Kimberly/terry (13:36.687)
grabbing, picking up the telephone and looking at the screen and checking to see what kind of notifications or alerts that we got. So it's not easy. We're not saying that any of these things are easy to practice to get present, but we promise that when you do get present, when you put that phone away, don't touch it. It'll be there later. Your emails will still be there. Your text messages, your DMs on social media, they will still be there for you. But once you get rid of that and you really get focused in the here and the now,

you will experience all of these benefits. It's not just one. all of these benefits, which feels really good. I'm so glad you brought up that point because we do. live in a crazy, busy go-go world where there just never seems to be enough hours in the day to get it all done. But when you allow yourself to slow down a bit, take some breaths, get in the moment.

you actually increase your bandwidth and then you experience all of these in that one note about the productivity. Sometimes people don't slow down and experience the presence because they're so worried about getting it all done. But one of the benefits is increased productivity. So you can actually increase your bandwidth. is well worth the focus. You will not get burnt out. So for sure. is that when you're present? You can't get burnt out.

And didn't we talk about, we talked about creativity a bit when we talked about flow. Yeah. So that was episode 15. And so we encourage you to check that out if you haven't already, where we talk about the importance of flow, getting into flow state, because that is being fully present in a big way. And we'll explain that in that episode. Check it out. Absolutely. Please do. So those are six tips again for, you know, when, what happens when you get present. And so again, reduce stress and anxiety.

Improved emotional well-being enhanced cognitive function strengthens your relationships. Yes better sleep quality Increase creativity. There we go. We got real creative there So

Kimberly/terry (15:45.814)
And you know what, when you're present, you do have a lot more fun. We need to add that. my gosh. Absolutely. That wasn't one of our items. So that's our bonus number seven. Lucky number seven. Be present. Have more fun. Absolutely. So that is it for today. Episode 24. And we hope you got some value out of it. At least a little baby golden nugget, perhaps. Yeah. Let us know if you are on YouTube.

Got comments there, talk to us in the comments or head over to social media, maybe Instagram, let us know what your thoughts are about the episode and maybe what of those that we shared with you, those benefits, what have you experienced or what do you look forward to experiencing? And then of course, be sure to listen and download, because we are at over a thousand downloads. And we wanna keep growing because when we know we're growing, that means we know we're reaching more people.

Thank you for listening. Continue to listen, subscribe, download, follow all the things, all the things, keep clicking, click away, click away and keep listening. Well, we again, appreciate your time. We appreciate your presence listening in or watching in today. And, uh, this is a wrap for our episode number 24. And we as always want to wish you an awesome day today. Make it an incredible day. Make it a great day. And why?

because it's a great day to have. Absolutely. Take care. Much love.