I read a paragraph in a translation of the works of the Sufi poet Rumi. He referred to the future, saying “If you can say there is nothing there, then there will be nothing.”
There is a popular book called “The power of now”. I started reading the book but felt that it did not resonate with me. There is nothing wrong with living in the moment, but …
The first ‘but’ relates to the past. If you are carrying a heavy load from unfinished past experiences, then you will not enjoy the moment. How can you be serene today when you carry anger, regret, guilt, or resentment from the past? You can only truly enjoy the present when your past experiences have been integrated into every cell of your body, when you understand and grasped the wisdom from all past experiences, and when you have no emotional baggage left that can trigger emotions about the past. Are you there yet? If not, find the wisdom. What have you learnt about yourself that gave you priceless wisdom?
The second ‘but’ relates to the future. You can drift through today and every today for the rest of your life, and you will quickly discover that you are bored or angry. You will be bored if you have nothing to wake up for. Part of today must be planning your future, and in your mind moving closer to what you want to achieve with your life. If there is one thing we have learnt in recent times it is that if I do not plan my future and make it happen, then someone else will do that. There are a lot of angry people on this earth at the moment, because they have left their futures to figures they trusted, only to discover that their future either has been taken away from them, or their future is 100% not what they had in mind.
It is never too late to take control and plan your future from your serenity today.
Why don’t you spend some time today daydreaming about what you want from tomorrow? You will discover quickly enough what emotions, prejudices and obstacles stand in your way, and then you can work on each one of them until you are fully in control of your present and your future.
Then you can plan your future while enjoying your present.
Namaste.
