Why 99% of your problems don't exist at all (And how to get rid of them today)
The problem or challenge you are experiencing right now is not in your past. And you know what? It doesn't lie in your future, either. No, the problem or challenge you are experiencing is only there now, if at all.
You read that right: problems and challenges don’t actually exist in the past or the future at all. Well, we could even turn that around even further: they only exist because we let our thoughts dwell on the past or the future. Just take a moment to reflect on yourself right now. What problem do you have right now, in this fleeting moment as you read these words?
You may be saying, "Yeah but Edwin, I'm in physical pain right now." Okay, clear. Then that's an acute problem right now. But even with pain, our brain works in fascinating ways. If you're in pain and you focus completely on something completely different, suddenly that pain is gone or fades into the background. J
So you can already change your experience right now by simply shifting your focus. Of course, if you’re truly overwhelmed by pain, that’s a whole different story. Then you need painkillers or to go to the hospital—I understand that, too. But everything else? Is that really a problem right now?
The great illusion of the "Now Problem"
Let’s take a look at the things most people worry about. Some people immediately exclaim, “Yes, but Edwin, I don’t have any money right now . So that is definitely a problem!”
Okay, great. But is that a problem now? Really now? As you sit here quietly, as you read this article, as you breathe? No, not right now at this exact moment.
Now you are safe, you are consuming this article, and nothing at all constructive will happen to that money shortage by stressing about it now. So: be free.
"Yes, but Edwin, it does become a problem!"
See, and there we go already. That's where we step into the future with open eyes.
"Because on the first of the month I have to pay my bills and I can't."
Okay, but it's now halfway through the month. You have fourteen days left. Are you seriously going to literally kill yourself and stress for fourteen days until that one day arrives?
Or are you going to take action right now , so that you’ll have something figured out by the first of the month? In any case, it’s not a problem right now, because it simply isn’t the first of the month.
Now you may be thinking, "Yeah, nice easy dick this, Edwin. Nice easy talk." And I get that. It's also very easy to say. But go ahead and do it, because it's damn hard done. And it's all because of that wonderful but sometimes oh so irritating mechanism in our head: our mind, our brain.
Why your brain is a doom machine (And why that makes sense)
Oh dear, our brain… That biological machine inside our skull really wants only one thing: to avoid pain. And to avoid pain, it’s constantly coming up with hypothetical pain scenarios. It’s an evolutionary survival mechanism.
In the absolute "now," there is almost never a problem unless there is a tiger in front of you or you are experiencing acute physical pain. But the rest of the time? How many acute, life-threatening problems do you have right now? Most people have none. Absolutely zero.
But what does our brain do? That continuously dishes out to us a predictive representation of reality[1].
- The past: The brain digs into old memories to check what went wrong. "My past was full of problems and my body is still suffering from them now." Yes, when you think about it it does! Then you retrieve something from the past and only then do you feel it in the now. If you don't recall it, there is nothing wrong with it now.
- The future: The brain kind of simulates what could go wrong so you can anticipate it.
When is your brain useful, and when is it clumsy?
Let's face it: that time machine in your head has a function. Of course, it's super convenient to learn from your mistakes. It's handy that my brain remembers that it's not so smart to say to a complete stranger lady, "Gee, how nice, are you pregnant?" when in fact she's just a size up. I experienced that once. So I will never do it again. Great that the past has taught me that lesson!
It's also helpful when I cross the road. My brain immediately makes a prediction: Is that car coming fast? Is it safe? Sometimes you are deep in thought and your body stops all at once because a car is coming rumbling by. Your unconscious has already scanned and saved things before you were consciously there. That's fantastic. That's how we stay safe as an organism.
But when does it get awkward?
It’s exhausting and completely counterproductive to constantly replay all the mistakes from your past like a giant slideshow in your mind. It paralyzes you. It turns you into a perfectionist, because “oh, I absolutely mustn’t make any mistakes, ” and it makes you feel absolutely miserable.
It is also completely awkward to continually project an incredible doomsday scenario into the future. "What will go wrong this year?" If you fill your future with misery, it will make you dead unhappy now (in the only moment you actually have)[2].
Time is a construct of the mind
For some people, it's a huge liberation to realize that the best thing about the past is that it's over. So let it be fucking over!
The realization to make is this: time is a thing of the mind. We have an inner perception of time, a kind of timeline in our minds. But that future doesn't exist outside your head at all. It is a predictive representation of reality, not a real reality.
Essentially, we live in a vertical time. Your body is vertical; it’s always in the NOW. There is only now. Of course, that’s inconvenient when it comes to planning. If I want to meet up with you and I say , “I’ll see you in the now,” things get complicated. “When, then?” “Well, in another now.” That doesn’t get us anywhere. So we’ve devised a horizontal timeline to enable us to function and make plans.
The same applies to the past. You can’t physically go back to yesterday. You can’t go back to last week. But you can go there in your mind. You can recall memories. But we know from a wealth of scientific research that memories are malleable[3]. They are constantly changing and are by no means an objective, reliable representation of what actually happened in the past.
In hypnotherapy, we sometimes joke with clients:
"Did you have a bad childhood? Do you want a good one?"
That sounds bizarre, but we know we can change those memories and their emotional charge in your mind in such a way that you suddenly get the profound feeling that you did have a good childhood.
Is that historically "true"? Maybe not. But does it feel better now? Absolutely. And how can that be? Because in fact, the past now doesn't really exist either; it exists only as a neurological pattern in your brain right now.
The Exercise: How to instantly make 99% of your problems disappear
So how do you break free from this? How do you stop that constant projection of doomsday scenarios and that emotional dragging of the past? With a simple but powerful visualization.
Please follow along with me:
Step 1: Visualize your timeline
Imagine that time is a physical line. Visualize the future right in front of you. See the days, months and years ahead of you. Actually feel that future. Feel the pressure or expectation hanging there. Then look behind you and imagine your entire past there. All your experiences, your memories, the beautiful and the ugly things. Feel that past hanging behind your back.
Step 2: Step off the line
When you have that line sharply in front and behind you, pretend to jump off it emotionally and mentally with a big step. Literally step off that line. Now look from a distance at that timeline lying there separate from you.
Step 3: Make the line disappear
Look to the future on that line and let it fade away. Take out the energy. Do the same with the past: let it dissolve into nothingness. There is no more future in front of you, there is no more past behind you. Visualize those concepts evaporating completely.
Handle with care!
All at once, you are then completely unplugged. You are purely in the now. No yesterday, no tomorrow. Just this exact moment.
I do warn you in advance: at first, this can be frightening. This is the ultimate handle with care exercise. Why? Because all at once you are so disconnected from your stories that for a moment you no longer know who you are.
It’s incredibly confrontational for your “little self,” for your ego, for your learned personality. After all, your personality exists by virtue of your past and your plans for the future. If you take all of that away, all that remains is pure consciousness.
At the time, I found it very easy to let go of my past. After all, that had been there anyway, I thought. But letting go of my future? Man, that scared the hell out of me. That was a completely different story. After all, it was all going to happen in that future!
There, I would become the man I so desperately wanted to be. That’s where all the success and happiness could be found, I thought. Of course, it didn’t make any sense—I know that now—but that’s how I had projected it all in my head back then: “Later, when I’ve achieved this and that, then things will get better.”
When I removed that future projection in one fell swoop, my ego collapsed a bit. I thought, Who am I anymore if I don't have to pursue a successful future? Who am I now? I really had to get used to that for a while.
But I promise you: if you go through this, it's incredibly liberating. And the most beautiful, the most magical effect of this shift? That 99 of the 100 problems you thought you had simply disappear like snow in a second. After all, they no longer have a foundation to stand on. By the way, this is also something that people practice with mindfulness[4].
Try it out for yourself. Step off that line, take a deep breath, and experience the space.
I'm incredibly curious about your experience. How did this exercise go for you? Did you find it easy to let go, or did your brain struggle considerably? Let me know in the comments below, I always enjoy reading them!
Helping other people with their timeline
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