We are 99% living in dreamland. Daydreaming, predicting the future, going around with our head in the clouds thinking about the past and having conversations with ourselves.
Meditation teaches separation from daydreams. Rather than identifying with them, think of yourself as merely a thinker of your thoughts. Tamara Levitt, Calm App’s head of mindfulness, encourages her students to, when catching themselves dreaming or trapped in thoughts, repeat, “thinking, thinking”.
Labelling actions accordingly helps you come back to the present, over and over again. It creates distance between you and your thoughts.
While you’re away with the fairies, you can’t be here on earth. When you’re lost in the past, you’re missing the present.