Sci-Fi in your head

So what are your plans for next summer? Where do you want to be in ten years? Ever thought about what life’s going to be like when you retire? What about breakfast this morning – did you enjoy it? Did you savour it? Or were you so busy planning your day that you hardly noticed eating at all? Don’t worry, you are not alone – living in the future is a wide-spread disease. Maybe it has to do with how fast-paced everything is nowadays, how many appointments and to do’s we have to fit into our schedules (I believe the word “schedule” is a product of our times), how specialized and at the same time DIY/an-expert-in-everything the world expects you to be. So we seek refuge in thinking about a less busy/wealthier/healthier/in some way better future. Good old escapism.

It might also be a variation of “There’s always tomorrow”: Why deal with problems now if we can just as well deal with them later? They won’t run away, will they? (And if they do – all the better!) Half of the self-help books out there propagate the “Live in the Now” principle, only they don’t tell you how. It’s hard to live in the now when you motivate yourself for working in the now by imagining all the great things you’ll be able to do or buy when your work finally pays off. Some time in the future. I do that, too, all the time: “If only I already had the money to move to Italy I’d be so much happier and more balanced breathing in the flavourful Tuscan air, steeped in  history, surrounded by beautiful sights and sounds...” Of course that’s an illusion. Researchers have found that money doesn’t make you happier once you hit the $50.000 mark. The Mercedes instead of the Volkswagen won’t do the trick. And I’m convinced that even with less money you can be perfectly happy. Look at all the college students – they’re poor, but don’t they have fun? And even in the midst of the most heart-wrenching poverty you can find happy faces. Usually it’s the children. So how do they do it? They haven’t been introduced to our friend Worry yet. They’re scared by snakes and bears, but not by a piece of paper – your bank statement for example.

As psychologists and evolution scientists point out: Our brains still live in the year 40.000 BC. Mortgage? Is that a predator? Our ability to remember the past and plan for the future has developed to give us an evolutionary advantage. We build houses and store food, we are able to work for years on end for a distant goal like discovering a cure for AIDS without any instant gratification (at least none directly related to survival) – that’s pretty amazing, don’t you think? Unfortunately planning ahead goes hand in hand with worrying ahead for most people. Only that this doesn’t fulfill any positive purpose whatsoever. Or can you see the evolutionary benefit from fretting about your last cell phone bill for a week? No? Neither could the tiger that would take advantage of your worry fog and pounce on you from behind. If you didn’t live in the manmade safety zone “city” that is.

The way I see it (and that’s how I handle everything from religions to chocolate boxes) we can pick out the good stuff and discard the rest – after all it’s our brains, right? For example it’s great that a brain structure called amygdala is activated when there’s a threat in our immediate environment. It makes the blood flow to our legs, halts digestion and pumps adrenalin through our bodies. Ideal conditions for survival. Awesome. The problem is that exactly the same mechanism kicks in when you’re afraid of an exam or job interview. If it was about running fast you’d show them. Most of the times it isn’t, though.

So why don’t you just get rid of that stuff? It might feel like an automatic chain reaction that you can’t stop, but it’s not. Because you are the creator of your reality.

Humankind always had the dream of flying, but gravity put a spoke in our wheel. Or so it thought. (What do you think would gravity look like if it was a person? Grave?) Then the plane was invented and reality forever changed. We’re not stuck to the ground any more! We decide what’s real and what’s not. How do you know that the feelings you have for your boyfriend or girlfriend are love? Because you decide that they are. When and where you want. Listen to Bobby McFerrin, he knew what he was talking about.