But it also pertains to the moods we fall into when things are not going well, like panic, resignation or anger. Whenever my daughter comes home late, I fall into anger . I blame her. My wife falls into despair . . . Same situation, different reactions and different health consequences.
Anger is associates with heart disease, despair with low energy.
But it takes an active commitment to living well and not in blame, a passion for learning new, healthier approaches to dealing with life, and finding a teacher or practice that builds self-awareness and behavior change. The wisdom of my friend has been reborn. It's a common human tendency to not live in the present moment. Or we become stranded in the past, mulling over what a friend said the day before. Lost in thought, we may distractedly respond to a child's plaintive request for a bedtime story.