From consultations with a 21st-century therapist to the Bible—“Take therefore no thought for tomorrow"—we often read or hear that living in the present is healthier than dwelling on the past or wishing ourselves into the future. By abolishing the ball-and-chain of our yesterdays and the oftentimes equally heavy leg irons of our future expectations, the argument goes, we’re free to focus our energies on matters at hand.
Most of the time, that advice is solid. Step out of the time machine of our minds, whether traveling backward or forward, and we can indeed engage more fully with our present tasks and difficulties.
