One of the best ways to be present is to train yourself to listen deeply. Listen with your heart. Focus on your physical heart when others are speaking and also when you yourself are saying something. The person who is continuously present with his or her heart when someone speaks will metaphorically begin to hear what Rumi calls "birdsong in the egg." Listening from the heart to your own words will make you aware of the wisdom of Hazrat Ali that words are under your control until you have spoken them, but you are under their control once you have spoken them.

Jamal Rahman in Sacred Laughter of the Sufis