We tend to get caught up in story, as can be clearly seen by the reactions to the election of Donald Trump. Something happens and our minds go to work. In a matter of minutes, we have constructed a story of how whatever has happened will play out, and that story rarely has a happy ending. We can turn the discovery of a hang nail into an amputated arm in under a minute. We see the hang nail, then convince ourselves infection will set in, then move to the infection being uncontrollable, and – presto! – we are certain our new nickname will be lefty.

The truth is that we don’t know what the future holds, so all of the time we spend constructing story is at best wasted time. At worst, it’s time we spend worrying about disasters that will never happen rather than living our lives. Live in the present moment!