Last update: January 23, 2015
The past is gone, what you hope is absent, but the present is yours.
(Arabic proverb)
"A man approached a wise elder and said to him:
- They told me you are very wise. Please tell me what a wise man can do that others cannot. -
The old man replied: - When I eat, I simply eat; I sleep when I am sleeping; and when I talk to you, I'm just talking to you. -
- But I can do this too, and I am not wise for that! - the man answered, surprised.
"I don't think that's the case," the old man replied. - Because when you sleep you remember the problems you had during the day or imagine those you will have when you get up. While you eat you plan what you will do next. And while you talk to me you think about what else you want to ask me or how you will answer me, even before I have finished speaking.
The secret is to be aware of what we are doing in the present, and thus enjoy every minute of the miracle of life. ”(Anthony de Mello)
Live in the present
It happens very often that we need to calm our minds and stop the agitation, or at least that continuous internal dialogue we are used to, in order to reach a state of serenity.
We all know that mental soliloquy characterized by the succession of thoughts in an interrupted way, which makes us worry excessively about the past and the future, leaving aside everything that happens in the present. Thoughts about thoughts that turn on themselves making us lose ourselves in a labyrinth that most of the time does not help us solve problems, but makes them worse.
One of the consequences of this bad habit is that it makes us continually escape from the present, preventing us from living the reality in which we are immersed every day. We become unable to enjoy what we do and, above all, what life offers us.
The past is past, we cannot change it. And the future, although it is a good idea to plan it without anxiety and with balance, is still impossible to control. Today is the only time we can really deal with. The instant that is occurring right now as you are reading these words. For this reason we must exploit it, and try to squeeze it to the last drop.
Seek the magic within every day, the treasure that hides in every moment, and learn how to live intensely.
Image courtesy of Francois Tornier
