I sometimes dwell on the past. Do you? Yet here we stand, feet on the ground of now. We can only go forward. Of course, we CAN walk backwards, but it’s not the way our bodies are created to move. Eventually we will get tired, stumble and fall.
Our thoughts are not meant to go backwards either. We weren’t meant to live in places (events, relationships, situations) that no longer exist. They are gone. What was… is not what is.
When our feet are on the ground of now, it is impossible to put them where we have been or where they are going. They are only here.
Likewise, our minds cannot read the words in front of us and engage with their meaning while they are on another topic – past or future. E.g., we can’t really focus on the magazine article on healthful living while we are anxious to read the article we saw about some hot Hollywood scandal. (Yes, even those thoughts are future ones as they are on another page!) How much we miss by not being here now.
Question: Where does your mind go? What little thing are you missing when you are not here now? The taste of your lunch when you think about what you have to do after lunch? What big thing are you missing when concerned about yesterday or tomorrow? Your child’s need for attention or your chat with a friend because you are multi-tasking rather than focusing on the conversation? There is only what you are doing now.