Past, Present, and Future

To quote The Beatles…yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Followed up by Annie, who will love us tomorrow; we’re only a day away. How much time do we actually spend thinking about the past, present, and future? Well, turns out some researchers from Harvard were also interested in this question and penned a study.

We are focused on the present during our waking hours about 53% of time. That means about 47% of the time we are “time-traveling” to the past and future. And mental wandering is just something we do as human beings. Ever daydreamed during a meeting, in church, or during a lecture? Yea, we all have. 😁  

Thinking about the past is important because it helps us overcome obstacles and experience growth. Basically, not repeating things we’ve done before that have led to less than desirable results. Thinking about the future is useful because it helps us prepare for upcoming situations and increase our chance of achieving desirable results.

But what happens when we start spending too much time in our mental time machine, and we begin to obsess about the past and the future? When we start playing in our head all the regrets we have or decisions we wish we would have made differently? Or when we start fixating on a future situation that may or may not even happen to the point it starts creating anxiety?

Not so good.

The authors wrote: “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”

Dang.

They suggest staying focused in the present moment is a greater contributor to happiness than the actual activity in which we are engaged. In other words, if you enjoy taking hikes, staying focused on the hike will make you happier than the hike itself.  

Our minds will always “time-travel” or wander. It’s just part of human nature. But being mindful <see what I did there? 😂> of our present moment can keep us centered, focused, and – for all intents and purposes – happier.

We’ll close with a poem by Robert Frost.

Carpe Diem

Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
Or outward from the village,
Or (chimes were ringing) churchward,
He waited, (they were strangers)
Till they were out of hearing
To bid them both be happy.
"Be happy, happy, happy,
And seize the day of pleasure."
The age-long theme is Age's.
'Twas Age imposed on poems
Their gather-roses burden
To warn against the danger
That overtaken lovers
From being overflooded
With happiness should have it.
And yet not know they have it.
But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in the present
Than in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing -
Too present to imagine.

Until next week.

Andy

(All written content created the old-fashioned way.)