Focus: Sage wisdom on presence + stress
How often do you push away what's going on right now?
At times, doesn't is seem we expend an awful lot of energy flailing away in our brains rather than fully embracing, enjoying and submitting ourselves to what's happening around us?
Sometimes even in the most perfect moments or places, we can work ourselves up into a negative state so easily. We spin over something that's already happened in the past. Or we worry about tomorrow, next week or next year. We even agonize over what others are thinking!
Our incessant internal chattering can be such a stressor.
Now, a good session of mental mulling-over can and is useful (for plotting out future goals and reminiscing over good times we've had, for example). But, deep in thought, if we're not paying attention, we toss today away. We devalue our current experiences.
At the very least, we fritter away today by focusing more on the past or on a coming day that we may never be given by the fates to spend.
It's a dance that's as old as time.
