One day at a time - this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone: and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.
Ida Scott Taylor
From this quote, I get that if you look back at the past and it is beautiful, worth remembering because of the beauty, then that’s OK. Well, I guess if you are focusing on beautiful memories, that’s lots better than grieving over the past.
I sure don’t want to focus on things I would grieve over as such things would be more likely to appear in my life in the present. I also don’t want to “borrow trouble” with concerns over the future worrying about what may come, though I do believe in being prepared and knowing I can handle whatever may come.
However, the advice to live in the present is always good. As much as I advocate making plans for the future, there can be too much of remembering the past and looking forward to the future that we forget to celebrate the now. We need to take time to be aware of and savor the now, the present moment.
I do love the idea of making the present so beautiful that it will be worth remembering. How do we do that?
I think that taking time to stop and actually become aware of where we are, what is around us, and what is happening is one step. Taking time out and counting our blessings in this moment is another that let’s us realize how much bounty is really part of our lives. Maybe another is taking the time to be really here right now with the person we are with, focusing our attention on them rather than wondering about the game tonight or the reports that are due or …
Tags: beautiful
3 responses so far ↓
1 mariannette // May 18, 2009 at 6:59 pm
The advice in the quote is a difficult thing to do.
Journaling might just be a way to slow down, think, and give ourselves a chance to begin to see who we are. The tact of using quotes as a springboard is interesting.
2 Aspen // May 19, 2009 at 11:26 am
Oh, I admit that taking time to stop is really hard to do. It’s a lot easier when you don’t have kids and all their activities and demands. I had not thought of journaling being a way to do that. Very good thought. Thank you.
3 Mina // Jun 4, 2009 at 4:56 am
I think that the problem is that we are not sufficiently aware about ours existence, and we do not understand that time do not wait on us. It is nice to remember the beautiful memories, but we can not live by it. The bad is mourn for the past, because that the negative impact on our psycho. Of course to live in the unrealistic wishes in the future is bad, and therefore you constantly Repeat the phrase - I live now and in this time.
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