I recently came across several wise observations about the consequences of not being fully engaged in the present. Corrie ten Boom said,
Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength – carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.*
Joyce Meyer has written,
Wisdom is our friend; it helps us not to live in regret. I think the saddest thing in the world would be to reach old age and look back at my life and feel nothing but regret about what I did or did not do. Wisdom helps us make choices now that we will be happy with later.*
Nicky Gumbel noted,
At one point in my life I developed a tendency to catastrophise – especially about my health. I was really helped by someone who pointed this out to me and said that to catastrophise means to ‘overestimate the danger of tomorrow and underestimate your ability to cope with tomorrows challenges.*
There are three states of time: the past, present and future. Mo Gawdat ** studied how we divide out our present moments by living between these three-time frames, whether positively or negatively. He summarized his findings, noting that we tend to spend most of our time in negative and other than present tense mindfulness. We are preoccupied with the past or with the future, and can often experience negative feelings (regret, sadness, remorse, despair, guilt, disappointment, anxiety, doubt, or fear). These emotions tend to overwhelm our present moment.
Living in the present moment is a constant challenge. When feelings of regret, despair, or anxiety flood our minds, try to draw your mind back to the present moment and away from negative worries or regrets. Replace negative emotions with more positive, hopeful ones, by deliberately choosing not to focus on negative emotions. Being more in the NOW is an unnatural habit, but one worth mastering
*:The Bible in One Year – a Commentary by Nicky Gumbel
**: Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat
Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org
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