There are lots of other things you could focus on in the present moment. But the Dhamma points you to this question of cause and effect, skillful and unskillful. As for other things, you can let them pass, let them pass, because they’re not the issue.

"As the Buddha said, appropriate attention [yoniso manasikāra] is one of the most important factors for inducing Awakening. There are lots of other things you could focus on in the present moment. But the Dhamma points you to this question of cause and effect, skillful and unskillful. As for other things, you can let them pass, let them pass, because they’re not the issue. This principle applies to any problem. If you clutter up your mind with too many facts — with no clear sense of which facts are really crucial to solving the problem and which ones are not — the fact that you’re keeping track of so many things actually obscures the problem. So you don’t want to focus on too much in the present moment."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Don't Listen to This Talk"

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