We learn from our past, we motivate ourselves by thoughts of the future, but we live our lives in the present, the now.[i]
Are you ever some place but not “there”? I am sure we all feel this at some point. I know I certainly do. There are times when I am at work and thinking about home; at home and thinking about work; on the golf course and thinking about work or home! Even when I’ve carved out time to pray and listen to God, my mind can take over with the cares of the day or future plans. I heard a counselor once call this “future tripping”. It is easy to let our “minds” take over the present.
Eckhart Tolle described this well in his best-selling book The Power of Now:
The Mind, to ensure that it remains in control, seeks continuously to cover up the present moment with past and future, and so, as the vitality and infinite creative potential of Being, which is inseparable from the Now, becomes covered up by time, your true nature becomes obscured by the mind.[ii]
Setting goals and working to accomplish worthwhile things is important. But once we’ve set them, we need to return to the now and fully inhabit the ongoing series of present moments that lead to that goal. To do otherwise is to forfeit our actual lives for the airy phantoms of future lives over which we have little control.
Enjoy the Now. Enjoy the Journey.
To read more about this, check out my new book, The Money and Meaning Journey: A Guide to Clarity, Financial Confidence and Joy.
[i] Jeff Bernier, The Money and Meaning Journey, A Guide to Clarity, Financial Confidence and Joy. Advantage Books, 2022
[ii] Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment(Novato, California: New World Library, 2004