The Power of Me, Here and Now – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

What do we gain by stopping the train of thoughts about the past and the future?

Photo by Brandi Ibrao on Unsplash

At a key milestone in my life, I was "celebrating" with my parents, my wife and my son. I had just closed, with honors, a chapter that had felt open for years. Yet I wasn’t enjoying it. My head was saying, "Tomorrow’s Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday I’ve got a presentation, then… and Wednesday… and Thursday I have…" That’s when I knew something was off.

Life keeps asking more of us, and paradoxically, more technology hasn’t made us more productive. Add a mind stuck in an endless pile of thoughts about the future and the past, and at the end of the day it all comes down to how we spend our time and what we get back. Our minds are built to think, and it’s natural to imagine the future and revisit the past. We need to imagine the future in order to build it, and to look back to see how many times we’ve succeeded.

So how can we give more? One practice I use every day to stop that train of thoughts is mindfulness, "a simple and powerful practice for training our attention" (The Mindfulness Project, 2015).

What have I gained and learned?

• Calm: I found something that can keep anxiety in check. I consider peace, calm and freedom our most precious assets.
• Putting time and attention where it truly matters: at that celebration, the only thing that mattered was being with my immediate family.
• Coming back to the here and now: mindfulness has shown me how many times I can return to the present when I manage to focus my attention.
• More resources: options appear that I couldn’t see while riding the train of thoughts. Most of the time they’re innovations, ideas and confidence, among many others.
• Focus: even in the most "trivial" everyday moments, a calm mind has shown me how many blessings are within reach and, above all, how to find meaning in small things.
• Decisions: I’ve come to trust that "perfect is the enemy of good," so I take risks and stop procrastinating.

There are many ways to quiet the mind. Mindfulness is free and, strategically, a long-term investment in your life. I encourage you to practice it, starting today.

Have you noticed that train of thoughts about the past and the future? How do you stop it? What would you gain if you did? What could you be doing differently if you were simply here and now?

Have a great week,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. A few resources to spark your curiosity about this powerful topic:

• Book: Yo, aquí, ahora (Me, Here, Now)
• App: Insight Timer (one of the best gifts my coach Edgar Chamorro ever gave me)
• Article: Mindfulness Can Make You a Better Leader (HBR)
• Article: Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain (HBR)
• Video: a mindfulness exercise

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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