Michael Mitchell: Archive

If you're depressed, you're living in the past.If you're anxious, you're living in the present.If you're serene, you're living in the future.

--Michael Mitchell

The future can be depressing. You may dread it or have nothing to look forward to, but if you feel depressed for any significant length of time, then you're stuck dwelling in the past because you see no way forward, which isn't necessarily a negative emotion, just sadness in general, because there isn't always a way forward beyond whatever depresses you. The past is permanent. Real depression, though, is helplessness. It's the belief that nothing you do in the future will work out for you, so you accept failure as a way of life.

The present is constant. It never ends. It's always now. That's what the concept of time actually refers to: now. You can't really live in the past or the future. If you focus on this fact, however, you're going to feel anxiety because your mind is too powerful to waste on such a short range of experiences.

Living in the moment is a myth, if taken literally, merely a vague expression we say that really means the opposite of what it explicitly states. In the unhealthy sense, it means to not think, to just go on autopilot and blindly react to whatever, but just because you can ignore your mind's capacity to think long-range doesn't mean you can escape the consequences. In the healthy sense, it means not getting distracted by the chaos that constantly barrages our experience with the world, while trying to achieve some goal, which isn't living in the present at all. It's relying on your subconscious to do what you've trained it to do.

You simply can't focus on more than you can focus on. The perceptual range of your consciousness is severely limited compared to the countless things you can perceive. The more you try, though, the more bound you are to the perceptual level of consciousness -- the more you focus on every perception, or worse, every sensation -- the more difficult it is to focus on whatever you're doing. Any time you're living in the present, even if you're doing it deliberately -- meditation, mindfulness, etc. -- then you're simply confused, unsure of yourself, so anxiety is the natural response until the moment is over and you regain your fully conscious sense of purpose.

Living in the future, when you're confident in your own efficacy, when you know no matter what happens next, even if it's failure, that you can manage it, then you'll be at peace in your mind. This is the natural state of consciousness for human beings. You won't always be there, of course. Most of life is spent learning and solving problems and acquiring skills and planning, but the more you successfully face challenges and survive risks and achieve goals, even the simplest of chores, the more serene you'll properly feel.