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'Living in the moment' is a metaphor. Thoughts about the future always take place in the present.

• gerbilly 9y ago
  Exactly this! I'd also point out that thoughts of the past always occur in the present as well. And remembering something is not like replaying a movie, but every time you revisit a memory you change it a bit based on your current state. Remembering is an active process.
  • gosheroo 9y ago
    Yes indeed, including in some cases changing the temporal order of events based on reason or new data. For example, I once misheard a drinking mug shatter on the floor before it slid off the kitchen surface. But reason corrected the memory. https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~ronald/310/310-Dennett-MultiDrafts.htm https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~ronald/310/310-Dennett-MultiDrafts.... I'd like to add that I think 'living in the moment' is powerful and useful despite not being literally true because it points to something real and important.
    • gerbilly 9y ago
      Well the term 'living in the moment' is just a western paraphrasing of the much more subtle and thorough explanation of mindfulness in the original suttas.