I recall once reading a great book by author Dan Millman entitled ‘Way Of The Peaceful Warrior.’ I shall not go into detail as to what the book is about, but it was a great book that taught me a lot about life and the story itself, part biography of the author, part fiction, contained a lot of great life lessons.

One particular lesson that left a mark on me was about the Wandering Mind and how this is the cause of all stress and suffering in our lives. The mind itself, as powerful as it is, can be compared to a dog. Left untrained, it has the habit of wandering off by itself.

One of the root causes of all our stress, anxiety and worries is the fact that our minds are never focused on the present moment. The moment, the present, is all we have. It is happening right now, and when we are truly focused on the moment, on what is happening right now, everything seems to go well, everything seems to flow well and whatever we are doing, whatever task we are doing, is done well.

But with the chaos and stresses of modern day living, with all the obligations and responsibilities we have in our lives, our minds tend to wander too much, taking us away from what matters the most, the moment.

The past and the future are both illusions. The past is events that have already happened leaving only memories of what has gone. The past leaves us with memories both good and bad, but we always tend to focus too much on the bad moments, things that have not gone very well, unpleasant events that are best left forgotten. This makes the past a parade of guilt and bitterness.

The future is yet to happen. It is unknown. Nobody knows what is going to happen because life has a habit of unfolding unexpectedly. It just proves that you cannot control what goes on around you. Our only greatest power is how we respond to what happens to us. Unless you strongly believe in the Law of Attraction, that our thoughts and feelings alone attract events that happen to us, life is going to unfold in ways you cannot imagine. The future can be scary and it brings with it anxiety and worry because of the unknown. The future is facing the unknown, and nobody likes facing uncertainty. Of course, we all have the habit of predicting and sometimes anticipating bad things, bad events like as if we are fortune tellers. We never seem to anticipate good things. But maybe, with society, the hectic and pressured pace of modern living, all the bad news mainstream media brings, it kind of hot wires us to think that way.

Going back to our minds, we never seem to be present in the moment. Our minds have the habit of time travelling, taking us away from the moment and whisking us away to either the past where we tend to relieve and go over events long passed in our minds, replaying them in our mind as if we are re-watching the same film over and over again. When we live in the past, reliving bad memories, things that have gone wrong, it gives way to feelings like regret, guilt and anger, bitterness as well.

With the future, we worry about things going wrong. We anticipate bad things happening as if they are already set in stone. That everything looks bleak. I guess that is where the say ‘Self fulfilling prophecy’ comes from.

Most times our minds jump from past to future, from future to past, past to future. Let’s say you have a job interview coming up, or an important meeting or date. If the last event didn’t go as planned, you will start thinking back to the events if it happened a week ago, a month or year ago, replaying it in your mind what went wrong, and what could have been done better. The past now has your complete attention.

Then you think about the future. You start to think, that if the previous interview, or event went wrong, then what is to say this upcoming appointment, date, meeting etc is going to be any better?

The future now has your complete attention. It gives way to feelings of anxiety, worry and stress.

So if the past can generate feelings of guilt, regret and bitterness and the future, anxiety and worry, is it any wonder why most of us end up depressed or even worse?

Your power, your real power is in the moment. That is where consciousness is, in the moment. It is only when your mind wanders that you give that power away.

So how do you stop the mind from wandering?

I have found a way, but it does take practise. It involves catching yourself the moment you find yourself thinking back to the past or the future. You ask yourself two important questions. It is in the book Way Of The Peaceful Warrior. It puts everything into perspective. The two questions you ask yourself are as follows…

Where are you?

What time is it?

The answers are simple…

Here.

Now.

It could not be more simple.