In mindfulness, calling attention to anything that enters consciousness has the effect of bringing you back to the present moment rather than lost in thought or dwelling on something. Since everything arises in consciousness, this can be practiced any time, not just during focused meditation sessions.
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You Can’t Wake up If You Don’t Fall Asleep
Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s latest movie, is a movie about a play where the plot never quite make sense. There is a scene where the playwright is asking a room of actors to be asleep. The movie returns to this moment a few times. On the final time, the director, after telling the lead actor there are no answers for why he burned his hand on purpose, tells everyone “you can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep.”
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Depression Is Living in the past, Anxiety Is Living in the Future
One can think of depression and anxiety as two ends of a spectrum. Depression often involves ruminating on things that have happened in the past. Anxiety often involves worrying about the future where something might happen.