Your brain is highly adept at time travel. At any given moment, it may be replaying past events or rehearsing potential future issues. How do you quickly snap back to the present? Try “active noticing,” a simple technique to reclaim your thoughts from wherever they’ve wandered.
“It’s simply returning to the present moment and being fully engaged there,” says Arati Patel, a mindfulness-based psychotherapist in Ventura, Calif. “When you’re present, anxiety can’t truly take hold—you can’t be fixated on the future, preoccupied with past happenings, or deeply downcast. You can actually experience the joy of being in that moment.”
The best part: Active noticing only takes a minute of your day.
Why you should do it
Active noticing helps your nervous system recognize it doesn’t need to stay on high alert. When you’re in a calm state and your attention is rooted in the present, your brain receives signals of safety and stability. “It can effectively regulate the nervous system because, by engaging all your senses, you think, ‘Oh, I’m actually experiencing being here instead of projecting into the future—whether that’s tomorrow or 10 years from now,'” Patel says.
Research indicates that regular mindfulness practices like active noticing can reduce anxiety and overthinking, boost emotional resilience, and enhance the ability to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively. Active noticing also builds awareness of subtle stress signals before they intensify, Patel says. You’ll become a more engaged participant in the world, rather than a passive observer.
How to do it
People approach active noticing in various ways. Patel favors this straightforward, repeatable practice:
- Pause and take a slow breath, prolonging the exhalation.
- Observe three things you can see, without categorizing them as positive or negative.
- Identify two physical sensations in your body (such as your feet touching the floor or the pressure of your body in a chair).
- Take note of one sound, whether nearby or distant.
- Conclude with a grounding statement: “This is what’s present right now.” Or: “This is what I’m aware of right now.”
The exercise takes less than a minute and is most effective when practiced regularly, she says. To turn it into a habit, Patel recommends integrating it with your existing routines—such as while waiting for your coffee to brew, washing your hands, or switching between tasks.
What’s especially convenient, she adds, is that you can practice it anywhere, anytime stress begins to surface—and no one will notice. “You can do it during a meeting or in the car,” she says. “You can truly stay present while driving to your destination, rather than operating on autopilot.”