As we become adults, most of us gain the ability to have self-awareness – being able to look at ourselves from the outside, the equivalent of seeing ourselves from another’s perspective. And many of us know that when you do this sort of self-analysis ad infinitum, you can get lost inside yourself. This is partly because when you are doing your own self-analysis, you don’t need the perspective of others. It causes a serious drag on our processing, though, and it fatigues us from over-thinking (also called anxiety).

There is effort, then, put into trying to “live in the moment”. When our brains are the most occupied (in a good way), it is when we are in the moment and also outside of the moment at the same time. This is when we are fully present and engaged with what we are doing and doing just enough self-analysis to correct our behavior. Most of us aren’t able to maintain that balance for extended periods. We tend to be either too self-analytical or too impulsive, not giving any thought to our actions. Here’s to finding balance.