rooted in the present

Wise words from Eknath Easwaran about living in the present moment. One of the things I love about yoga is its ability to root you in the present and appreciate the present as opposed to losing yourself in worry or day dreams about the past or the future.

Whenever we worry about something in the past or the future, we are setting up our own little haunted house and peopling it with our own special ghosts.
Most of us live very little in the present. If we could watch our thoughts, we would be surprised to see how much time we spend in the past or future – or simply daydreaming, out of time altogether.

Very seldom can we say we are fully present in the present moment. Yet now is the only time there is. The present is all we have. If we feel we don’t have enough time, the first thing to do is not throw it away. Instead of ceding it to the past and future, we can take steps to give our undivided interest to here and now.
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Attention flowing to the past is not energy used; it is energy wasted. The same is true of the future: looking forward to things, worrying about what might happen, fantasising about dreams coming true is energy drained away. When the mind stays in the present, all this vitality comes back to us.