Where Are You Right Now....Past, Present Or Future?

Life is busy.  It doesn't matter whether you are male or female, married or unmarried, kids or no kids....life is busy. 

​Where you are in your mind on any given day can have a huge impact on how your day does.

​what do I mean by "where you are in your mind"?

​I mean where your focus is each day will have an impact on how your day goes.

​If you are down and depressed and still analyzing last years argument with someone or playing out different scenarios of how an event should have gone and what you should have done or said 10 years ago to someone, then today's day will pass you by unnoticed.

You will miss out on the pleasure of the beautiful day and all the potential that today has to offer if you stay stuck in the past in your head.

​When you rerun events that occurred in the past over and over, wondering why things happened to you, you can literally lose time.  Hours can go by where your body is on autopilot just going through the motions but not actually being present!

​We all do this from time to time but it is important to become aware that this doesn't change anything.  Things still happened the way they did and no amount of replaying is going to change that fact.

​On the other side of the spectrum is when you're uptight and anxious and you worry about the future.  You worry about how things that haven't happened are going to go.  You wonder how you are going to feel, how other people are going to react.  You wonder about where you are going to be in 5 years.

​In this situation, no amount of imagination is going to exactly predict how your life is going to go.  We cannot play out the future with accuracy because there are so many variable to any given situation that there is no way our brains could play out every possible outcome of a situation.  I admit life would be much easier if we could!

​When we are worrying about the future again the today's are passing us by.  Our bodies are on autopilot while we debate within ourselves about what will be.  We miss out on living each day and enjoying the here and now's while we worry about what will be.

​Staying in the present is not always easy.  if you are stuck in the past or caught up in worrying about the future it can be difficult to pull yourself back into the now.  It can be easier, maybe even safer to stay where you are and not actually live each day. It can be easier to stay on autopilot, but to feel connected to yourself and those around you.

We need to learn how to stay in the present and take each day and actually live it. 

​So when we find ourselves drifting away from the present, back to the past or forward to the future there are some techniques that can help you reconnect back into the present.

​Focusing on your breath and calming your mind can help ground you back to where you need to be.  Listening to your breathing can remind you to stay present when you find your mind drifting away.

​Getting out into nature and taking in your surroundings can help stop a roaming mind.  Looks around you on the walk and see if you can see something that makes you smile.  appreciating what you can see, touch and feel can help you stay present.

​Talking to yourself and counseling yourself can also be beneficial in helping you to let go of the thoughts of the past or future.  Allow yourself to go to the past or the future but only for a couple of minutes then encourage yourself to let go of those thoughts and refocus yourself on actually experiencing the today's.

​Life can be amazing, make sure you don't miss out on the today's by staying in the yesterday's or jumping forward to worry about the tomorrow's.  Ultimately you cannot control either one and that's okay. That's life. Enjoy it! :)