Because our brains and nerve transmissions and our muscles take a little time, it can be frustrating to try to experience the now. By the time, I can think "Now!", that moment has changed into a later one. I can't capture the genuine now. I am always a little late.
But I acknowledge that the time has always slipped a little since I thought of it. That tiny bit isn't much of a worry. I can just about make up for the slippage with my memory of the very recent time. What difference does the whole business make? It makes a surprisingly big difference.
When I am quite current in my awareness of my thinking, I tend to free myself of problems, of bothers, of worries. When I am aware of what I am thinking NOW, conscious that NOW I am jealous, afraid, grouchy, sleepy, I am often able to SEE how I am being. That gives me a chance to change moods if I want. When I am being pessimistic and I can tell that I am, I get a chance to ask myself if I would like to drop the pessimism. I often do feel like dropping a bad mood. I decide not to sustain it. When I give myself a chance to consider a bad mood's value, its justification, its payoff, the balance tips in favor of just letting it slide off into oblivion.
When I get caught up in the story of the mood, how he, they, she did such and such, how he, they, she really ought to know better, blah, blah, blad, I get distracted by the details of the matter. I don't get the chance to use my bigger, stronger overall mood muscles to just toss the whole deal into the bin.
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