We all put ourselves under intense pressures under the pretext of being responsible adults. Everyone needs to be someone, be somewhere or be part of something that is going to secure that all elusive future, if not for ourselves, for our children.
But where is this future people keep talking about, ten times brighter than heaven with more temptation lured into its silver linings than Hell’s Kitchen? Does it actually exist? No, of course it doesn’t, so why should we keep planning towards it? How many advertising campaigns try to convince us that building a better future includes them? How can you possibly build an improvement on something that does not exist?
The future is purely imaginary. Time has only one gift, and that is the present. The rest is past and dead.
We are brainwashed into believing that the future is something to save and spend for, look forward to and worry about, and my all time favourite, invest in. You might as well get planning permission for the Yellow Brick Road…nothing is going to happen outside of NOW.
It’s quite a remarkable thing when you get your head around this concept, even if it is only for a second. You can think about the future, but you are doing it NOW. You can think about the past, but you are doing it NOW. Your power to create and change is NOW.
99.9% of all stress comes from either the past or the future, just like everyone else, I worry about bills I can’t pay (future), rent I must pay (future), problems that I have (past) and people that I care about (past/future). Unless you are having a heart attack or some other serious medical procedure at this moment, is there anything you can think about that is 100% concerned with what is happening to you now, at this moment?
Probably not, as there is no need to think about NOW; it takes care of itself.
People get themselves into so much trouble when planning for the future, they sign their names to dotted lines that contract them for 30 years, not even able to imagine clearly what they will be wanting for lunch in three days. People stay in unhappy workplaces, relationships, and living situations hoping that the future is going to change things for them, somehow doubting it will, but hoping someone or something will “come along” to change things for the better.
No one can tell you with absolute certainty what is going to happen to you, unless that person is you. You are the only one with you every moment of your life. Credit where credit is due, no one can know you like you can. Who you are is not in the future, it is NOW, but it is formed and informed from your past. If the past did not control us, would we be so tempted to control the future?
Listen to what people talk about; it is always about what has happened to them. You can’t talk about anything else apart from your past, can you? You can look forward to things that might happen to you, plan for them perhaps, but the less said about mice and men the better.
If someone were to ask you who you were, how would you answer? Perhaps you would start with your name, a title given to you by your parents in your past. Perhaps you would tell them what you did for a living, where you lived, if you were married or had children. All of these topics that we umbrella under the guise of “me” are all collected from the past.
Eckhart Tolle, in his book A New Earth: Awakening Life’s Purpose, said: "Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are."
We are all creatures of habit, we repeat our routines in work, family, and leisure; others come to know us from our habit. Your best friend maybe a smoker, if they gave up, you would notice that about them. Equally, if your friends were only used to seeing you dressed in black clothing then you turned up to a party wearing puce pink, you would cause a stir.
People can change any time they want, but most people are afraid of change; it throws a spanner in the works of familiarity established by routine in the past. The past is very capable of controlling you for the rest of your life in this way, unless you question your life from the perspective of NOW.
IN conclusion, don’t think about the future or how you are going to get there, don’t worry about the past for it is long gone. As Eckhart Tolle says: "You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level."
You are the creator of this life experience called YOU. Be grateful, be acceptant, and let the future and the past go. You have the power to do anything you want NOW.
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