The mind as we all know is a faculty within us that has the capacity to stray and wander. It does not stay with what is present. There is no wonder then that it has been compared with a wild elephant or an untamed monkey. I would say it’s like a hungry animal that needs stimulating food for its palate all the time. Whenever it doesn’t get enough interesting stuff, it searches in another place.

And that is exactly why it does not like to be in the present- because there isn’t enough food for it to chew upon. The present is not always full of adventure or pleasure or even pain for that matter. 

The present may be and often is fairly neutral. You are sitting on a chair and looking at a computer screen. There is nothing greatly exciting about it. You are cooking and looking at your dish. Perhaps nothing there excites you either, at least not on all the days when you cook. 

Maybe it is just routine. You are driving down the same road to work for the hundredth time. Again what’s new there? These are the mind’s interpretations of the situation, they may not be true. 

This is how the mind works and so it strays from this neutral, neither pleasurable nor painful activity to something a bit juicier. It can stray to happier memories of the past or to a painful memory of the friend who spoke to you rudely and put you down the other day, or to fantasies of some kind. But more often than not it strays to attempt to resolve problems that are or have become a seemingly big part of your life.

So the mind goes right back to thinking about the illness you maybe going through or financial worries or relationship discomforts or rebellious or underperforming children and so on. And the mind now has something more interesting to do than to look at the boring steering wheel or computer screen or dish.

Some of us might even believe we are being productive when we frequently think about problems. We are using our mind efficiently trying to solve problems rather than blankly looking at or experiencing something neutral in the present. So what is the problem with that? Well the only thing is, not being present comes at a cost. 

Yes you think you are being productive. Or even that you are giving those aspects of your life that are more meaningful more of your time rather than wasting it doing nothing in particular. Also a lot of times you have gotten an escape from being bored. After all worrying about the stress at work is less boring than staring at a steering wheel.