Meditation, even for a short time, helps the body and mind in many ways.
https://sites.google.com/site/kirbyvariety/life-classes/meditation-steps
A big part of being human is being in two worlds at the same time: the inner world of feeling and thought and the physical world that stretches from one's current location to outer space and beyond. An advantage of having access to both worlds is that a person can mentally move from one to the other and back, more or less at will.
From time to time, I try emphasizing the physical world around me and the current moment I am in. But, when I get too immersed in being present, human events and plans and wishes show me that people live in their past (I remember what my parents told me and times I have followed their advice) and in their future (we are going to a party tomorrow so I better get a present and a card). I know the formula that the past is gone and the future has not arrived but it is still important to me and those I love and like to be aware of past events and future plans.
We are reading "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman, a historian who won the Pulitzer Prize twice. It is about the 1300's and she wrote that time seemed to have some of the same problems and concerns that we do now. The book was published in 1978 so it doesn't deal with current politics or social problems and themes. But the questions of how we live our lives, what our duties are, what our fortunes are and will be loomed large then, too. In addition, contrasts can be valuable too. When the government takes a while to find out what its citizens think and support or oppose, we realize that ideas and communications can move more quickly over much greater distances now.
The 1300's are not current right now and the fact that it is July 24, 2021 means that in many ways we are in a different situation from any human who lived at that time. Trying to pay focused and sympathetic attention to where and when I am now can pay off wonderfully. However, my mind, my impulses and my contacts keep pushing me back to yesterday and last year and the year that my daughter was born. Similar forces propel me forward to later this summer, next year and times ahead. I benefit from concentrating on where and when I am now but I also enjoy dips into pictures of the past and plans and fears for the future.
