Living the present intelligently

In my experience as a psychologist, almost all the patients I have seen have shown some symptom of anxiety, which in its concept includes various symptoms and feelings, even disorders.

A generality that we hear about anxiety is that it happens when we are very aware of the future; and depression is generated when we are aware of the past. And many times it is like that. Of course, a professional diagnosis is always necessary.

Nowadays, we have the motto of not wasting time; and this is how people load themselves with tasks that sometimes become impossible to carry out. I knew a 4-year-old girl who went to school, then to ballet, violin and English classes. When did she play or share with her parents?

And it is very important to have goals, to develop the competence of achievement, but you have to learn to live each stage and enjoy it.

The past is an archive of our experiences, some good, some not. All those experiences that involved emotions, such as the happiness when we graduated from school, the uncertainty whether your schoolmate liked you or not, the sadness at the death of your grandfather or your pet, are kept more in our consciousness than other moments that did not involve a strong emotion.

You may regret something that happened, but you can no longer change it. Maybe you wish you had chosen to take that English course when your dad offered it to you, instead of going for a walk; it would be very useful to aspire to a better job.

You are what you are doing now to improve what you were. You cannot change the past, but you can work on the present, with a plan for the future that you will be executing every moment.

And so that this future does not turn into anxiety, plan it with flexibility. For example, reviewing your finances, you could start studying English in the second quarter of the year; today, in this present, you start your savings and if everything goes well, in April you start studying. The flexibility is in case something important happens during these three months that implies an expense of those savings, so you can rethink to look for a more affordable option or start in the second quarter, without generating stress.

Live the present intelligently. Review past profitable experiences and plan with flexibility, understanding the different stages of life, as well as the possibility that everything can change in an instant.

You may have many happy moments in the past, and I hope you will have many more in the future. In this present, in this very moment, I hope that my post remains a positive memory of great usefulness.

Rosa Fonseca

PSYCHOLOGIST