Whenever you move from the present and think or worry about the future, you can expect to experience anxiety. You get “stressed”. Maybe you start to feel fear. You get apprehensive, become unsure or uncertain.
In other words, anxiety fills the gap between the now and the future.
The reason you feel stressed happens is that typically, you ask yourself questions that start with, “What if…” as you try to anticipate the future and what might be coming along. Every time you ask “what if”, you create anxiety within yourself. “What if I make a mistake?” “What if I fail?” “What if I stuff up?” What if I don’t make it?” “What if I’m not good enough?” And on it goes.
No wonder you feel anxious and stressed – you’re asking questions that no-one knows the answers to!
On the other hand, when you think about the past, and typically, you say to yourself things like, “If only…” then you experience feeling down. You feel depressed. Going back to the past usually means that you feel down. You experience regrets. What could have been. Missed opportunities. Mistakes. Over-sights. Bad memories.
PAST NOW FUTURE
Depressed Anxious
I_______________________________I_____________________________I
“If only….” “What if….”
The recipe therefore, for feeling better about yourself is to stay in the present.
In other words, if you feel anxious or you feel down, simply bring yourself back into the present moment. Look around yourself. Take it all in. See and feel your present moment. Ask yourself, “Right now, at this present instance, am I OK?” The answer is yes. Tell yourself, “Right now, I’m fine, right now I’m OK, right now, I’m good.”
Be thankful for your present moment, for the things around you, for the life you have, for the country you live in. Be thankful.
Once you bring yourself back into the present moment, your anxieties and your feelings of being down disappear and recede. That’s because in the present moment everything is OK. Everything is fine in the moment.
Experience the present moment.