Where Are You Living?

Aloha ‘Ohana!

Here are some words of wisdom from our friends at Mindful Brains.

“Are you living in the past, present, or future?”

How much of your time today have you spent thinking or worrying about something you said or did yesterday or any day in the past? Did you spend time feeling sad or anxious about something that happened to you recently or maybe even years ago? Or maybe it is not the past you worry about, maybe it is the future? Have you spent time wondering about something that may happen (good or bad), or spend time making plans for a future event? We all have spent a portion of our day, doing just that. And so we should, to a certain degree.

It is wonderful to spend some time reflecting on the past and the future, and it can be very important. We should learn from our past and we hopefully have wonderful memories that we would like to reminisce about. It is important that we plan our futures, have a budget, save, and schedule our time otherwise we have no direction and we may or may not meet our goals. The problem arises when we spend the majority or maybe all of our time in the past and/ or future, then we lose sight of the here and now.

So how do vou stav present?

An important component of mindfulness (being fully present) is acceptance of inner experience; in other words, the ability to accept negative emotions and thoughts without judging them. When you get stressed by difficult life events or daily pressures, you may feel anxiety and depressed mood, or have self-critical or worrying thoughts.

Observe what's happening in your mind and body like passing clouds. Do not try to analyze, suppress, judge or figure out thoughts or sensations. Let them just BE. Practice this technique every time you have a chance.

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