A lot of self-help Gurus say we should live in the present.
But what if the present truly sucks?
Like someone is in jail. Or stuck far from home laboring away somewhere? Or is being harassed by someone, or maybe find themselves in the center of a war zone?
Very hard to just “live in the present” then. So this needs to be applied sensibly and purposefully.
As the Gita in chapter 6 verse 5 says, we must use our minds to elevate ourselves. Maybe in tough times, we use elements in the present to envision and progress ourselves to a superlative future.