I began the year with some emotional reading and one of the books was titled The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. One of the quotes that stuck out to me was, “To remember is to disengage from the present.” It was such a powerful statement and I felt the truth in it.
When I go back into my memories, I sometimes also bring up the emotions behind some of the events of the past. I never feel them deeply but it distracts me from the gratitude I have for the lessons learned and changes that came from those past experiences. If we’re not careful, we can disassociate with the present and allow the past to take over and change our brains with crippling precision.
One of the things I am working on this year is staying in the present moment. I want to reduce the time spent worrying about the future or stressing about the past. I read somewhere that the present moment is the only moment that exists; the past is only memories and the future is imagination. We harm ourselves with things that have already happened and moments gone as well as things that haven’t happened and may never happen.
If you do nothing today, do nothing in the present. I hope you find your peace in the present.
Look Within 
Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts on staying in the present moment. Your experience reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and the quote about disengaging from the past really struck a chord with me. How have you been practicing staying present? Are there any techniques you find helpful?
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Thank you for your comment. Some things I try to do is limit my multitasking. It’s so hard to maintain staying present when the brain is busy doing too many things. I also practice using my senses on walks where I notice all the things around me. Meditation helps too. When my mind starts to wander, I notice and then turn my thoughts back to the task at hand. It’s really small steps that lead to the big changes. I hope this helps! 💚
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Thank you, I’ll try to put that into practice.
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Let me know how it works out for you.
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