All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Live in the Present and Shape the Future

A prolific Brazilian writer, Paulo Coelho, says - “In magic - and in life - there is only the present moment, the now. You can’t measure time the way you measure the distance between two points. ‘Time’ doesn’t pass. We human beings have enormous difficulty in focusing on the present; we’re always thinking about what we did, about how we could have done it better, about the consequences of our actions, and about why we didn’t act as we should have.

Or else we think about the future, about what we’re going to do tomorrow, what precautions we should take, what dangers await us around the next corner, how to avoid what we don’t want and how to get what we have always dreamed of.” True! Our mind seldom stays in the present. Usually it keeps wandering either in the past or in future. It is beneficial to think for the betterment of ourselves and our loved ones, but it is wrong to neglect the present for the sake of it because present is that platform on which we stand and by walking through which we create the path to the future course.

There are some points which should be kept in mind for efficiently managing the present and simultaneously materializing our future dreams. The first and most important point is to decide the short term and long term goals of life. Having done so, we should adopt a logical approach towards planning our actions to achieve those goals. While planning, we should take into consideration whether the achievement of our short term goals would contribute to the ultimate aim of life or not.

We should ask ourselves where do we see ourselves about 10 to 15 years from now and leading what sort of a life? Do not impose any restrictions on yourself, but think about every desire and dream carefully and analyze whether your desires are matching with your actions. This means that the activities of the present should be analyzed on the basis of to what extent they could fulfill our aspirations for the future. Give some time daily to fulfill the higher ambition (the ultimate aim). Augment your knowledge and experiences in that field and have unfailing confidence on your potentials.

When you start acting on your plan, very often there would be hurdles, obstacles, setbacks, and the resulting delays and disappointments. In order to tackle such situations, think that everything in life is temporary. Every time it rains, it stops raining. After the darkness of night, there is always the dawn of light. Nothing lasts forever. So if things are good right now, enjoy it. It won’t last forever. If things are bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either.

Please keep in mind, worrying and complaining won’t help at all. In this context, someone has rightly said – ‘When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don’t even see the new one which has been opened for us.’ Spending today complaining about yesterday won’t make tomorrow any brighter. Take action instead. Let your experience help improve your life. Make a change and never look back.

Be an optimist. In his autobiography titled Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela, says – “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

In conclusion, we should not lose our present for our future, but should also not be so much overwhelmed by our present that we may be totally unaware of the future. We should live in the present keeping the ultimate aim in mind; and make realistic plans and execute them sincerely and earnestly.