Living in the Now

I want to talk about striking the balance between working with a long-term goal in mind, yet living in the now. They are almost two opposing forces, but I believe there is a way to strike the balance. Living in the now is the true, simple, honest way to live and be happy. To just be in a state of mind in which you are absorbed by the moment means that you appreciate the moment, you appreciate where you are, who you are, what you have right now, and you don’t waste the moment. But in our world we’ve been taught to plan, to set goals, to live for our future and our past, and to buy time any way we can. How can we strike a balance between the two? Can we live our lives in the now, yet still plan for our future? Well we have to look at it in more specific terms to really personify this concept. For instance, living in the now can mean accepting our situation, whatever it may be. Being in a negative situation could bring lots of negative emotions and responses, but if we change our perspective and accept the situation and its reality, we can change how we respond to it. This of course is easier said than done. What this world surrounds us with on a day to day basis is hard to ignore. Its hard to ignore our attachments, our pain, our emotions, but its the teaching we must hold on to. Striving for it. Nobody knows what the future brings, and the past is gone.