It is always said that living in the present makes you content and efficient. Do not think about the past; stop worrying about future, live in the now. I have tried following it with all my heart but not for a day could I really bring it into practice. How do you not think about the past? I have been alive and in my senses for more than a lot of years and I am sure all of you who are reading this too would have. I find it impossible to not think of all those lived out days, thought out thoughts, worded words, fought fights, flowed out tears, heaved heart aches, and laughed laughs, loved loves. I use most of my ‘now’ time thinking about all that, going over all that as if I didn’t have another choice. I don’t consciously summon my past moments like it often happens with memories, instead these beings of the past conquer me, leave me locked in them. I hate unlocking myself from them so I throw away the keys until an external force, somebody else, do it for me, or rather for them. I often wonder how a person can keep all her memories of the lifetime within her, not spilling them out or cramping them and destroying them. May be that is what happens when one turns old, they are left vulnerable with cramped and distorted memories. One is vacant without memories.
So, is it possible to live in the present or think just about the present? ‘Just about the present’ sounds so silly, present is everything; it is the promise of our existence. If so, why is it so difficult to remain in the present until you wish to take a look into the past? Improve your concentration level; you need to train your mind to focus for a longer period. Yes I know, but why? Why do we have to train ourselves in order to think about the most important moment of our life, the Now? I have heard that animals live in the now. Being a rational thinker definitely has disadvantages. I have been working hard on mastering the skill of thinking Just about the present, I struggle at it. After all, memories make us up; we shouldn’t train ourselves to avoid them!
Future is an even more puzzling thing. I hate day dreaming but I have never been able to get rid of it. Day dreams are eating me up from within. Even though I hate it, I have to say, day dreaming is wonderful and I, more than often, fall for the wonder that it is. If you had a feeling that I was vouching for thinking about the past, you are right, I kind of did. But that won’t happen with the thought processes that are related to the Future, especially day dreaming, it is such a waste of time. We can get addicted to day dreaming in certain situations like, when you are in love or about to be in love or hope to be in love, when you are studying, when you are listening to seminars, every now and then, etcetera. Ridiculous we are, really, spending so much time imagining ourselves in situations that we expect us to be in if we manage to live through to be in that day and age and place and time. Do you mind me saying ‘we’? Are you a person who doesn’t day dream, think, worry, imagine of Future? If you are, you have my apologies. I would still prefer saying ‘we’ so please excuse me. We are thinking about our future based on the experiences and knowledge that we have earned from our past. We might stop thinking about Future if it becomes impossible to have thoughts of the past. By Past I mean the very second that just passed. That is an insane thought.
Past is past, not really. Past is always around, past is in the present and in the future. I didn’t mean the Tense but yeah, that too. I think Past is the best thing about life. We often say as we put our best effort to console someone, ‘it is over, a thing of the past, forget it and just move on’, rather we should probably ask them to learn something from it and make use of the experience in the future. Most of the time, the present is lost in between the past and the future. Present is too short a period of time, too eager to top the list of the past moments, maybe that’s why it is so easily lost. Anyhow, I will continue to train myself to improve my concentration level. After all, Present is the promise of our existence, we shouldn’t ignore that either.
