Matisse said ‘There are flowers everywhere if you look”. Seems that we can miss a lot if we live in our minds in the past or future. We can rush through what we are doing in the expectation that something better is coming up. We can focus on the destination and miss what happens on the journey. It would be a pity to rush through life in the expectation that a better one is coming. I’d need to see that in writing.
Your mind can project backward and forward and this can be helpful or unhelpful. Any time you spend doing this is time lost in experiencing or enjoying what is actually happening in reality.
A good way to stay in the present is to focus on your senses. They can’t project you backwards or forwards. They are locked into the present. Remember the senses. Taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight. If you focus on one of these and exclude thoughts that may arise, you will be in the present. It is a great place to spend time and is very good for your health. Worry and anxiety can’t live in the present. They need memories or expectations to operate.When people have a problem it is very seldom happening at the moment they are speaking. It is going to happen. Mark Twain said he had many tragedies in his life and that some of them actually happened.
Try spending a few minutes each day focusing on one or more senses without thinking. The more you do it …the more you can do it. Thinking is fine but constant thinking isn’t.
Try it. You have nothing to lose except unpleasant or unhelpful thoughts and finding peace for a few moments.
Stay well
Paddy