Seneca wrote that we suffer more in imagination than in reality, that fear runs ahead of us and torments us with things that may never come. So much anxiety is rehearsal for a future that doesn't arrive. The mind paints the worst case in detail and then reacts as if it's already here. A gentle Stoic question helps: what is actually true right now, in this moment, not in the imagined one? Often the real present is bearable, even calm, while the imagined future is the only thing burning. You can't stop the worried thoughts from coming. You can keep returning, again and again, to what's actually in front of you.

Inspired by the old idea of present moment. Written by Ugo Charles.