Past vs Future
It was my mother who introduced me to this idea. At the time, I was going through some, recurring, life-crisis. You know, a type of mid-life crisis with 18 years old.
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
I wish I could say those words made me feel better. But I felt like a freak. Does that suppose to mean I'm both depressed and anxious? And I thought things could not get worse...
Since then, I've heard it many other times, like in the book "You Are a Badass". Jen Sincero, the author, introduces the idea of the past and the future to highlight the necessity of being aware of the present moment: you already have what you need to make your life more enjoyable. But we are busy spending time and energy seeking fulfillment in many places but the one where we can find it — within.
This remembers me of a game I played with my friends when we were younger — hide and seek with objects. One had to hide an object, and the others scanned the environment to find it. Each time someone got close to the object, the hider would scream: “hot, hot, hot.” If they were far away: “cold, cold, cold.”
The cold locations are the past and the future. But, somewhere along those, you can find the present — the hot location. Just like we would eventually find the object in the bushes and win the game.
I wish I had an internal voice screaming “cold, cold, cold” each time I got away from the prize — the present. Meditation helps to find that voice. Journaling too. But the voice begins with a subtle whisper. One you not always hear. But when you do, you have the opportunity to change course and seek another place.
“We’re on a planet that somehow knows how to rotate on its axis and follow a defined path while it hurtles through space! Our hearts beat! We can see! We have love, laughter, language, living rooms, computers, compassion, cars, fire, fingernails, flowers, music, medicine, mountains, muffins!”
Muffins. "Hot hot hot".