Stop Predicting The Future And Dare To Create It Every Day

Avoid predicting the future. Think about it, you do not have a crystal ball, nor is there a temple near you where the sibyls whisper to you at every moment what is going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Do not do it, stop anticipating things that have not happened yet because there is no greater irrationality than torturing yourself by an invented horizon, created only by a mental focus driven by anxiety.

We know, it is very easy to say, but almost impossible to control the automatic flow of thoughts. Hopefully, in terms of mental well-being, everything would happen through simple self-conviction, by snapping our fingers and stopping doing what causes us so much suffering.

Sadly, it doesn’t work that way and the most common is to go through times when we feel like we have been trapped in the maze of worry and the whirlwind of overthinking.

The psychotherapist Albert Ellis said in his book You can be happy , that people tend to establish self-destructive habits in our lives almost without realizing it.

Anticipating what is going to happen and imagining the worst is a very custom of ours. Deactivating this habit from our mental universe is not easy because often, we have been applying it for as long as we can remember.

However, it can be done. Let’s learn more about this topic.

Instead of predicting the future, transform your present

When you perceive that you have entered that loop in which your thoughts do nothing more than predict the future about what will happen or what will not happen, do a very simple thing: take a deep breath and then exhale. There is no better way to hold onto the present than to become aware of our breathing.

You are made of flesh and bones and a brain that often goes faster than life. However, your body and mind need you here and now. You must breathe deeply and inject calm to that abdomen in which the nerves are swirling, balance to those numb muscles and peace to that mind in which headaches come and go.

Anxious minds have an overactive attentional system that stresses and deforms everything. We filter future events through negativism and our entire organism is activated to go into alert mode. It is like waiting for a threat; our senses are sharpened and the body prepares for what has to come (be it real or imaginary). Hence the muscle aches, discomfort, almost perpetual fatigue.

Predicting the future is an almost devastating form of suffering. However, why do we do it?  Is this kind of thinking useful? Obviously not.

Focus on the present by giving you what you need

Real life happens in the immediate present; we rarely dwell in that time sphere. The human mind is a tireless acrobat: it jumps from here to there, from past to future.

Often, he takes to remember yesterday and focus on those mistakes made, on those missed opportunities, on the unfulfilled dreams … Seconds later, and with a quick pirouette, he moves to the future to dance through all kinds of possible scenarios about what what can and cannot happen.

You have to train your mental focus to bind to the present, the here and now. However, at times, that reality that surrounds us can be complex, delicate and defined by constant uncertainty.

What can we do then when what we have before us is tainted by difficulty? The answer is simple: we must give ourselves what we need. These would be the strategies:

• Do not anticipate anything, focus only on objectively analyzing what happens and what you should do here and now to feel good.
• Sometimes what immediate reality demands of you is that you act. And if so, don’t put off anything. React, mobilize, transform, be proactive …
• At other times, as striking as it may seem, it is best to do nothing. Just accept, assume that new reality and take care of yourself. How? Resting, accepting your emotions, staying calm.

Stop predicting the future and dare to create it

Some say that we live in the era of distraction; others, in the time of constant worry. Be that as it may, there is something undeniable and that is that tomorrow worries us.

However, the problem comes when I am always ” preparing for the worst .” The level of anxiety feeds back. This is not a good strategy.

Stop predicting the future should definitely be our mental health mantra. Instead, it is advisable to propose another approach: transform our present so that tomorrow is more conducive to us.

Focus less on what is going on in your mind and more on what is going on around you, here and now. That’s where opportunities arise, where you need yourself most. As Mark Twain once said, ” I have come into contact with infinite problems, but none of them actually ever really happened . “

On many occasions, understanding that our thoughts are deceiving us will allow us to shift our attention to what is happening in front of us. We need each other at this very moment and we must give ourselves responses of self-care, balance and calm, connection, creativity …

The art of controlling thought and attention requires time and will. If we succeed, the effects are therapeutic. Let’s begin that critical work today.