Brain Food #591
The future starts now
Thoughts of the day
Researchers try to underpin our conscious and unconscious mental processes, to understand the inner workings of the human mind or, even further, the psyche itself (if science permits this).
Often, this curiosity shifts towards man’s ability to be present. Physically, it is inevitable, but our mental presence is often hindered by our inability to live in the moment. What the researchers found was, in fact, that we think about the future much more often than we ruminate about the past. The present was out of the question.
Similarly, in another experiment, people were asked to sit in a room for twenty minutes, with absolutely nothing to do. There was only one way out: receive a small electric shock, and leave the room early. Surprisingly, participants in the study preferred to suffer the electric shock, instead of having to spend twenty minutes in silence, with absolutely nothing to do and no distractions.
We are forward-thinking beings. But the beauty of the future is that it is up to us to create, if only we learn to be in the now.
“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”
— Albert Camus
Being present can start from something as simple as enjoying a meal without looking at a screen, writing in a notebook about what we are noticing around us, or enjoying a poem. Poets are the masters of stillness, inviting the reader to dwell on each word they see in front of them, while often they take it a step further, proactively asking us to pause.
Enough
by David Whyte
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now
