If being in the present is so important, why is that? Among other things—including the quality of one's own experience—it must be because it is within the present moment that anything consequential happens. This now is where all causality ever is, was, or will be. There is nothing paradoxical or contradictory about this statement.

But what about what will happen next year? True, but that is here—the idea of it is here. So it is in the anticipation that we have the choice about how to approach that, and that planning process is in the present moment, alongside the mental model we have of that future event. The quality of the model will hopefully have a good basis, and ongoing reflection, updated with new information and insights, will continue to refine it. That way, when that future moment becomes present, it falls into place.

With this in mind, it is mission-critical to have a model of the present moment itself. That model will have many elements, each capturing some important aspect of reality. Some will be internal, some external, and some about the interdependence where they meet. Some will be organized along a linear timeline, while others will be nonlinear, and again, how they relate. Likewise, cognitive, affective, embodied. And in different spheres—personal, professional, private, and so on. And about different content areas, different groups, different goals.

This model of the present moment itself, therefore, contains at least one recursive self-model. This has to be running in the background, but can be brought more into awareness. Because much of our process is not consciously experienced, and our conscious bandwidth is a narrow window, we must be selective about what we pay more attention to. It is conscious attention that pulls up swatches of

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