I can’t really know how my day will look like tomorrow. I can imagine and plan it, but it will never be a precise reflection of the plan; something unexpected will occur. I can think about my past, happenings and situations that I remember, but they are only a subjective memory of events; any other person participating in them would have a different recollection. The future and the past are imaginary, built and constructed by my intelligent, thinking mind as an important part of my identity. In fact they are so important that I concentrate and focus on them all the time. I constantly move my attention and my interest between these two ignoring the only reality I am in: the present.
I started learning mindfulness to return to the present, to concentrate and notice what is happening in my life here and now.
Yes, sometimes I keep my head down staring at a screen of some digital device and when I take it up I see around me people with their heads in similar position, staring into memories, stories, plans and worries of the whole planet. We are focusing on a story told by somebody else. We are losing touch with reality making choices and taking actions based on seductive or threatening stories of somebody else, somebody who took authority from us, manipulated us into his or her world. And we wake up into a very surprising present, unexpected and unwanted, but the one that became our reality. So we start again planning, wondering and analyzing. We are again on a roller-coaster of thoughts between the past and the future.
Please stay here, in the present, be aware of what is happening to you just here just now. Feel the sensations and energies in your body whatever they are, trust yourself, you are wise. Be mindful.