Your mind is a time machine

Drive carefully

No other thing do I know that brings such harm as a mind that is untamed, unguarded, unprotected and uncontrolled. Such a mind truly brings harm. No other thing do I know that brings so much benefit as a mind that is tamed, guarded, protected and controlled. Such a mind truly brings great benefit. — Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha)

The foundation skill for minding your mind for optimal health and well-being and success is SELF-AWARENESS. You can’t do anything about anything you don’t know anything about.

If you spend some time observing the operations of your mind using your preferred method (meditation, free association, journaling/writing with stream of consciousness etc.), you will notice that your mind spends varying amounts of time in the three time zones of Present, Past and Future. Turns out different people just naturally spend a different proportion of their mental time in these three zones, as well as tending to focus on different kinds of things.

Here are a few case examples:

• Person A spends most of their time ruminating about and regretting negative experiences from their past

• Person B spends most of their time reminiscing about warm happy past experiences

• Person C spends most of their time imagining positive and appealing future possibilities

• Person D spends most of their time anticipating scary harmful future events

• Person E spends most of their time curiously noticing what is happening right now without judgment

• Person F spends most of their time finding something negative about what is happening right now

You can probably imagine how each of these people is feeling and acting as their mental time machine travels in its default direction and mode. You might recognize yourself in one or more of these profiles.

Driver’s Ed for your Time Machine

Most of us have a habitual tendency to naturally spend more time in one of the three time zones and to focus more on positive vs. negative events there. We can better mind our minds for health and well-being and success if we use the following best “time management” (!) practices:

• Be continuously AWARE/mindful of what time zone your thoughts are occupying, and whether they are positive or negative. Then make smart tweaks and adjustments as follows.

• Spend the majority (70+%) of your time in the PRESENT noticing what is happening without judgment. Our life is happening right NOW and if we’re distracted, we’ll miss it.

• The PAST is past and done and we can’t change it. Focusing on negative events outside our sphere of control is a recipe for misery and suffering (read about Stoicism and learned helplessness for great insights about this). So when you visit your past, make a conscious effort to focus mostly on positive memories. Then the inevitable sadness and regrets about the past will not sink you. {If you have suffered traumatic injury in the past, then some degree of focused therapeutic work and repair will be required before this kind of intentional mental filtering will be possible}

• The FUTURE is a fantasy largely within your mental sphere of control. Design your imaginings as a source of energy and hope and inspiration and direction rather than as nightmares of terror and defeat.

We don’t have complete control over our minds, but by learning to take hold of the steering wheel of our mental time machine, we can improve our health and well-being and chances of success.

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