Living in the present

[supergee]

Talking to my shrink yesterday, I finally realized that Living in the Present is not a right or wrong way to live one's entire life but a tool, a strategy, that can be a good or bad one under specific circumstances. At the Fellowship later (Thursday is my Mental Health Day), I recognized one application: In the present I often want to do drugs. At the point, it is a good idea to get my ass out of the present and start living in the past, where every time I did drugs, I wound up getting greedy and making a mess, and in the projected future, where if I repeat the same actions, I get the same results.

I'm sure I exaggerated the extent to which I was surrounded by Zen Fascists who insisted that if I wasn't living in the present all the time, I was doing it wrong, but I was probably not entirely mistaken. Being on the introvert spectrum, I am not terribly fond of living in the present, but recognizing it as a tool should help me do it when appropriate.

Comments

[laughingrat]

You can be an introvert in the present. Just be present with your introversion. *ducks* But yeah, seriously, to hell with Zen Fascists. They don't know. Much respect to you as you work with all this.

[firecat]

As an introvert I like living in the present...but I do seek out presents that have a limited number of people in them.

The Zen Fascists probably haven't saved much toward retirement.

[serene]

This is new and useful thinking for me. Thanks!