When we allow ourselves the flexibility of mentally time-traveling away from the present, we are trying to protect ourselves from pain, especially when reality is just too painful to bear. Coping this way is very typical in acute grief. But the present moment also offers us possibility. For example, it offers us other members of our species. And only in the present moment can you feel joy or comfort. You cannot feel those things in the past or in the future. If that sounds unlikely, think of it this way: you can remember times you felt joy or comfort, but you are actually feeling them in the
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