What The Clock Says Is Wrong, There Is No Tomorrow

“Tomorrow is an illusion that our mind puts us in if we are not aware.”
– Anonymous

The problem with tomorrow

As a regular person, I spent too much time thinking about the past…what could I have said, what could I have done better? Overthinking about the future which is yet to come made me anxious and overwhelmed. I always thought I would be happy tomorrow but I didn’t know that the hope of finding happiness tomorrow was causing me misery.

Have you found yourself in a similar dilemma? Don’t worry, it’s common for us humans to fixate on the future. Read on to know how I overcame this issue.

Our awareness and the importance of now

Thinking of the future made me miserable in the present. Tired of this constant pain, I started observing my mind. And I learned that can hope for happiness only when you stop time-traveling to the past or future.

Let’s do an exercise to understand awareness. Sit down on a chair, close your eyes, and start observing the sounds around you. Think of a past memory like a wedding, and experience the taste of food, people around you, and their conversations.
Now return your awareness to the current moment: to the coldness of the chair, your breath, and the sound of your surroundings. What you have just experienced is movement in time. We need to keep our awareness of sensation, sound, and touch in the present.

Awakening is crucial

We spend most of our days sleepwalking; our decisions are automatic, and our habits are automatic. The more comfortable we become, the more we sleepwalk.

Awakening is no superpower, it simply means being aware of what you are doing. Doing everything with mindfulness is awakening. Being mindful helps you detach from things you don’t need, and it helps you form healthy attachments. For example, the love we see in movies is often toxic as it involves jealousy and domination. Becoming aware of this fact can help you unlearn such toxic messages–irrespective of how popular they are–and learn to love in a healthy way.

Now is a blessing, the rest is suffering

No matter how much you think, you have to be in the present to eat the food in front of you, go to work, and so on.
We need to think ahead in the field of science and technology but if we apply the same principle to our minds, we suffer.

When we don’t practice being in the present, we always create something messy with our imagination. Being aware and awake are the only ways to end this psychological suffering. The moment we desire something from the future means that we are avoiding the experience of now. Why create fear of the future in our minds when we have actual problems to work on in the present?

Sachin Rana is a blogger at Mind Fitness Guide.