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Living in the Present
We are told to live in the present, savoring the delights each new day brings. We are advised that it is futile to think about the future-little point mulling over something one has no control over. Similarly, brooding over the past is deemed equally fruitless. But how many of us live by the moment.
With human beings, rationality doesn’t always work. Hence, we engage in activities clearly not in the best of our interests.
We can’t keep ourselves from ruining the past failures, reminiscing about good old schooldays, lamenting our loss of innocence, sighing over the accolades won and becoming nostalgic about all the love and adoration that came our way.
Similarly, we are easily given to counting the chickens before they are hatched. Sky-high expectations, the sun-tinged prospects of raising a warm and happy family, a cose house, a cruise abroad, a luxury ship. And what not.
But, to the other extreme, the prospects of gloom can be equally haunting.
The fear of failure, old age, loss of our loved ones, the very uncertainty of the future can havoc on our psyche.
Why is living in the present so hard? Why does our mind have a leap back to the school days to get an illusion of happiness in our otherwise desolate lives? Why does it prance ahead to that uncertain future we have little clue about?
I’m sure everyone has heard that living is the present is the best way to live a life. But few bother to question how one’s supposed to carry out this high-impossible task?
One brain must be insulated from the hard realities of everyday life. Otherwise, we can’t get over the distractions of misery to enjoy the delights of the fleeting present.
Maybe, by refusing o live in the present, I am trying escape from the hard realities of life indulging in the bygone days and a vague future.
Battling against all odds is not so easy. I often blame myself for my inability to extricate my present from the intoxicating past and the future.
This only pushes me into depressive spells. The more I think the gloomier the prospects. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to live in the present, but I’ll surely try. That’s all I can do.
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