All We Have Is Now

A few rambling thoughts on life …

All we have is now. The measure of our peace of mind, and the measure of our personal effectiveness, are determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. Regardless of what happened yesterday and what might happen tomorrow now is where we are. From this point of view, the key to happiness and contentment must be focusing on the present moment.

One of the beautiful things about children is that they absorb themselves fully in the present moment. They manage to stay completely involved in whatever they are doing, whether it’s watching a beetle, drawing a picture, building a sandcastle or whatever they choose to devote their energies to.

As we become adults many of us learn the art of worrying about several things at once. We can allow problems and future concerns to crowd into our present so that we become miserable and ineffective.

We also learn to postpone our pleasures and our happiness, often developing a notion that sometime in the future everything will be much better than now.

The High School student thinks, “When I’m out of school and don’t have to do what I’m told, everything will be great!”

He leaves school and suddenly recognises that he won’t be happy until he has left home.Â

He leaves hope, starts University and soon decides, “When I have got my degree, then I’ll be really happy!” Eventually he gets his degree at which time he feels that he can’t be happy until he has a job.

He gains employment and has to start at the bottom of the heap. You’ve guessed it. He can’t be happy yet.

As the years roll by he postpones his happiness and peace of mind until he gets married, starts buying a home, gets a better job, starts his family, gets the kids out of school, retires … and then he dies before he allows himself to be blissfully happy. All his present moments were spent planning for a wonderful future which never arrived.

Living in the now is about expanding our awareness to make the current moment more delicious. Each of us has the choice, moment by moment, as to whether we really want to live and allow ourselves to be touched and affected.

Whenever we are living in the present moment we drive fear away from our mind. Essentially fear is the concern over events which might happen sometime in the future. This concern can be paralyzing to the point where we find it impossible to do anything constructive.

We are, however, only open to intense fear when we are being inactive. The minute we start to take action and actually do something our fear subsides.

Living in the now is about about taking action, without fear of the consequences. It is about putting in our effort for the sake of involvement, without worry as to whether we will get our just rewards.

Time doesn’t really exist, except as an abstract concept in our head. The present moment is the only time we have.

 It’s up to us to make something of the moment.

Good luck,
Mike.
Mike’s Money Making Mission

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