Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, and general ‘spiritual guru’ has a brilliant take on depression and anxiety.
Depression, he says, is simply feelings that are concerned with thinking about the past.
Anxiety, conversely, is feelings that are concerned with thinking about the future.
If you’re feeling depressed, then, it’s likely that you’re thinking about something that happened in the past. And the thing about the past is that, it’s the past. It’s gone. It can’t come back. So why concern yourself with it?
And if you’re anxious, it’s likely that you’re thinking about a potential future. And the thing about the future is that it’s malleable. It’s shapable. You can effect it. But just not yet. There’s nothing you can do about the future right now. All you can do is what you can do right now.
Most of the time, the thing we’re worried about in the future doesn’t come to pass. And so worrying about it today does nothing apart from effect your mental state today.
So whenever you’re feeling sad or down or depressed, or whenever you’re feeling worried or concerned or anxious, remember that all you have is right now, and that the past and future shouldn’t be your concern.