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Mindfulness is not a cure, it is not magic, it is not a relaxation technique, and it will not solve all of your problems the moment you start practicing it.

Though mindfulness may help with many of those things, it will happen over time, and not instantly.
Many people have an understanding that mindfulness will help them forget about the past, stop thinking about the future, and be more calm and relaxed the moment they add it to their life, but this is not correct. While mindfulness can help you stop thinking about the past and the future and bring your focus to the present moment, this is a difficult feat to achieve, once that takes time, practice, and a lot of patience.

Mindfulness can help calm your mind through its various exercises, but like any exercise, it will also take time. If you start incorporating mindfulness into your life now, what ever your age is, that is the amount of years your brain has been allowed to do what ever it wants. It is used to that kind of life and freedom, and it will do what ever it can to continue like that, making your mindfulness journey more difficult.
It's because we cannot just override our brain's nature in a single session, or even in a few sessions. Mindfulness is a practice that can help change your mind's habits, it can help you have more control over your mind and the thoughts that enter it, and mainly, how you react to those thoughts and how they make you feel, but it just takes time.

This is a huge misconception many people have about mindfulness. They think it will be a quick journey, and when they see that after a few exercises nothing has changed, they decide it's not for them and that it doesn't work.

That is what mindfulness is not. It is not magic, and it will not solve your problems overnight.

Mindfulness can be a great tool to help ease anxiety due to the way it causes us to focus on the here and the now rather than the things that may be causing us the anxiety, such as the future or the past.

Mindfulness teaches us how to reduce our focus on future possibilities and past events, and focus more on the present moment. This enhanced focus on the present moment allows us to let go of negative thoughts and emotions, fears for the future which we may be stressing over, regret or negative emotions for the past and it's events which could be keeping us stuck in the past, preventing us from moving on with our lives. All of these things and more could be the underlying cause of many people's anxiety, and since mindfulness helps us reduce this from our lives, it can certainly help us with reducing anxiety, fear, stress, depression, and other negative emotions.

On top of this, mindfulness can teach us how to better accept life's events and outcomes, and to not be impulsive towards what happens, but rather, to be accepting, open, and patient. To be able to respond in the way that you feel truly represents you, rather than just reacting to the tough situations out of impulse.

A mindful walk is a mindfulness exercise where, while walking, you try to be mindful of the sensations you experience as much as you can.

This means that while walking, you would try to focus on each step, how it feels when your foot hits the ground, at what speed it hits it and at what force.
It means being aware of the speed at which you are walking, your pace, your breathing, and other bodily sensations.
It also means being aware of your surroundings while you are walking. This includes the terrain you are walking on, the smell in the air, the sounds surrounding you, the wind and how it hits your face, and any other external sensations you experience.

This may sound like a lot to focus on at once, and it is and can be overwhelming, which is why you should begin by focusing on just one of those elements. Try walking and paying extra attention to how quickly your feet hit the ground. After that, also pay attention to how it feels when your heel hits the ground.

Slowly, as you practice, you will be able to focus on each thing for longer and more intensely, and to even focus on multiple things at once.

I don't think it's necessarily that you should not focus on the future. I think there is a balance.

If you live your life focusing on the future, then you are not living your life right now. Same as if you were to live your life thinking about the past, you would be missing out on the things that are in your life right now.

Thinking about the future, it's possibilities, things you may have or may not have, worries and fears, can cause you to act in ways that you otherwise would not. It can cause you stress, anxiety, and often times, depression. On the other hand, not having any ambitions or goals for the future can also cause stress and anxiety, and again, depression.

I have known people who lived without having any goals or plans for the future, and while they were just living in the present moment, living each day as it came, they were also lacking a sense of purpose, they were lacking a destination, a goal. They soon feel into depression until they had to start taking better care of themselves.

There are people who make maybe too many plans for the future, who think too much about the future to the point where everything they do today is actually for tomorrow. As a result, they cannot enjoy anything, since every new day exists only to worry and care for the next day.

There is a balance, and for everyone that balance will be different.

Meditation is an excellent tool to help one stop thinking about the future.

Thinking about the future and the past are two of the main things that can cause stress and anxiety in peoples lives. But, as harmful as it may be for people, it can be even harder to not do it.

Almost everyone goes through times when they find themselves worrying about things that may happen in the future, things that may be completely out of their control, and it is just very difficult sometimes to stop doing this.

Meditation, though, is a great tool that can help calm your mind down and focus it on the present moment. Preventing it from going wild and uncontrollably think and worry and stress about the future.

Meditation can help you increase your focus and awareness of the present, it can help you better take control over your mind, and the steam of thoughts in it, including those fears and thoughts about future events.