Past, Present, Future, Where will you spend the Day?

I just had the thought, where will we spend our days; PAST. PRESENT, or FUTURE? Why will we choose and what difference will it make. I have never been one to spend a lot of time in the past, but lately, I have had trouble having enough faith in the future. I am trying to rev up a positive attitude, but I had a goal and did not see any progress, but I guess I just need to give it more time. At my age, it seems to get harder to wake up and get busy changing the world, changing our small world also seems a challenge. Where do you spend your time, past, present or future?

I think I need to spend time in the present, but we all need a vision if front of us to keep us going, or at least I do. Maybe we need the past there also to remember what we learned already. The PRESENT IS where you get your work done and do what you do, so You don’t want to waste a moment. We may not even have a tomorrow and yesterday is definitely DONE.

My goal is to spend my time and make the most of it. You may be happy to spend your time in the past or future and that is your choice, but isn’t life over when we do that?

Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Questions & Trivia

Related Articles

Responses

  1. Hi Rose……….the answer is pretty obvious……….you have to live in the moment you are in…….its ok to have memories of the past to relate to, some to cherish, other are best left buried……..the future, best not to look to far ahead, that could be depressing…….make small plans for the immediate future by all means, holidays , days out………but tomorrow isn’t promised for anyone……..you can only get the best out of the time you are in……..just doesn’t pay to beat yourself up about what you think you should be achieving……….keep your mind and body as active as you can, but don’t put pressure on yourself pushing and striving to achieve set goals……..no pleasure in that…..

  2. I have heard it said that, this moment right now, this very small almost immeasurable moment in time, is the closest thing to eternity we have.
    C.S. Lewis wrote, The Screwtape Letters. Here is a quote.

    The demon Screwtape writes (in his reverse speak): “It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time—for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.”

    1. debray, Thank you for an enlightening comment. I need to focus on having hope in the future instead of fear. There are so many things to fear as we age and also in the world today that having hope and being positive is a constant struggle.
      If we don’t have hope and fear in many situations, why would we work and struggle at all. Sloth is a sin, so religion deals with these issues but I do not believe in heaven or hell.

  3. Gosh this is a bit deep and I should probably think more before I write but i”m going to give it a shot anyway.
    What is the meaning of life, indeed what is life? what is time? In the past many have invented a story to answer these questions, the stories evolved into many religions and belief systems. These stories gave purpose and comfort to the lives of people. These myths and beliefs were tailored to organize societies, control societies and this not necessarily bad although it could be. The accumulated knowledge of mankind about our planet and indeed the universe , makes traditional religious beliefs difficult for people like me. I don’t have a great brain and can only hover round the edges of new understanding. I can only try to write what I think I have worked out for myself. It may help you it may not.
    Everything travels in waves, a wave is energy. So maybe start from the” big bang”, all that energy is still traveling like ripples in an endless pool. That energy is life, we talk about our own energy, as in doing work etc. I’m thinking of the energy that circulates within the nuclei of our vey cells. The energy that travels within our brain….. I believe this is what is spoken of as the soul. You can feel the moment that energy goes. All these waves follow the same shape if you will, although they move in very different time frames.The earth ‘s crust is moving but slowly , the seasons move more quickly. The mechanisms of all these different waves too big for me to fully grasp. Unbelievably complex……. The sun heat the earth, the warm air rises, it meets cold air and the friction of the two different temperatures makes an energy. The wind gently moves over the ocean, a tiny ripple is formed, this grows to a wave. a wave crashes on the beach, the wave has gone but the energy moves pebbles, the friction of the pebbles makes noise, changes the shape of the sea bed……one thing rolls into another. Empires come, they build they peak, they fall. Same with us, we start as a knot of cells feeding off our mothers energy, we are born, we learn , we reproduce our selves and then we fade until we die and the vital energy leaves us . Remember energy is never lost it is converted…….into what? well there is the question LOL.
    We are, our experience. So many people, contacts, make us what we are. knowing someone, loving someone makes them part of us. So remembering the past if we are lucky, gives us pleasure and shows us who we are.
    Present……this is difficult, what is now? We are at spinning at speed in space. Sorry I can’t get my little mind round this, for example all over the world right now. As I typed that . I would say it was 12.13am. across the water as I typed that . it was a different time grrrrrr!!!! Al I can say is enjoy.
    Future……. I agree with you I look at world affairs and nothing looks good. There have been times when there was great hope in the world. This is not such a golden time…on the other hand the world has survived so far. in any case there is not much that you or I can do so it is no good worrying about it. There are some good news stories, people creating , people moving science forward. I think the other thing we need to remember Roseinbloom……. we have 24hours news these days, The networks are selling their journalism they have to keep us tuning in….so everything is made into this exciting crisis to keep us hooked.. We can turn it off and guess what…..things will not have changes all that much. when we turn it on again. Take care friend we are all specks in the universe, ” Keep Calm and Carry On” .

    1. Rockflower, Your brain is fine, The universe is still a mystery and people trained in physics and other sciences understand it more than we can, but you make as much sense as most people can and a whole lot more sense than all but a few. I appreciate your comment. I don’t know if it is better to just keep it simple or to go beyond what we know. After seeing the comments, I am not sure where I spend my days, but every day is spent in all three. I do not spend a lot of time in the past; never have, and I want to believe that the best may still be in the future or at least hope for that. At my age I am not that successful. You are also right, “keep calm and carry on”.
      Hope is in short supply, so we need to fan the flames of hope constantly in order to Keep Calm and carry on.

  4. Living in the present moment is one of the most difficult things in life. I have faithfully meditated every morning for at least 30 minutes to try to still my mind which is always anxiously bringing me to the past or future. I use calming music, get comfortable, say my daily prayers and let my mind go to a quiet place. Many times I get terribly discouraged at how it gets so undisciplined like a little child who won’t sit still or shut up. Others times…it can be a beautiful experience I don’t even want to leave. Most people find this too difficult to do but I feel this is worth the time for me with my problems with anxiety and panic. You can take this throughout the day keeping your attention on the actions you are doing. Thanks for this blog, Rose.

  5. Rose1943, I am happy that you appreciate this blog. Sometimes, I do blogs and think that I am wasting my time, but usually I learned from the writing and I learned from the comments. Living in the present is complicated. I was walking this morning and I was hot and tired, so I tried to distract myself, but when with people, I try to be fully present for them; I am not real good at it. I am sorry that you are anxious and subject to panic attacks. We all are anxious and it is not pleasant but like depression, some anxiety is much worse and almost unbearable. I takes constant work to keep our mind in a happy place especially if we have a level of physical pain also. It takes moment to moment rerouting our brain from troubling thoughts to happy ones. Have you tried deep breathing while breathing through your nose. It is supposed to add nitrous oxide which makes us happier.

  6. Yes, Rose. Thanks. I’ve done all the deep Yoga breathing with the vibrational sounds on the exhale…om, etc. you are so correct saying it takes constant work especially if we are experiencing any pain. Thanks very much for commenting on my comment?

  7. Roseinboom…… Never think you are wasting your time with your blogs………I for one always enjoy them and they make me think. Living in the moment,,,,yes good advice, always try to give full attention to the moment after all it is gone in thrice never to return. I do think you have to work at this and it is not easy. We know what can work for us but if it will work for someone else??? who knows? True depression must be awful….when I was taking my strong cancer drug, I know I could not concentrate on anything, Book in front of my face, I’d read the words but somehow did not process them, so I’d read the page again. Or occasionally if you are worried and the brain ‘comes off it’s cogs’ ,the same thoughts going round and round in a loop. My solution is writing it out, write down the worry in detail. Some times you can see the worry is a bit silly but if not write various solutions, out come. Then at least you have a plan. All this takes energy and as age increases we do not always have enough energy. As always for me I try to go with the flow…..if I have bad news about someone or something…OK to feel sad, we don’t have to be perky or brave all the time…if you don’t feel the lows well you probably don’t feel the highs either. At present I think the world situation is bringing us all down somewhat. Some days I just refuse to look at news channels, they are still there the next day LOL! If you watch. all that bickering sets the tone for the day. I take my little dogs through the woods, they have such pleasure, big gins enjoying each moment, I have to smile and that lifts me. for the day.

  8. Rose or as I think of you…..Chicago Rose. You are right…all this stuff is hard to do. I often use music, i put on a Gregorian chant and try to focus just on each sound as it comes. I’m not great at this my mind always wants to fly off in some direction or other. I used to do this lying flat on the floor and it was easier. Now I would have to get down, an adventure in its self and I’d never settle all my body in a discomfort free position. There would be a hip twitching, a nerve burning or joint screaming take the weight off me LOL!!!! Then I would have to crawl round and pull myself up in a humiliating fashion. Nothing is easy but just as long as we keep trying it’s good I think, Nothing changes much…..all those old school reports of mine …….Jane would be top of the class if she wound concentrate on the job in front of her LOL. See even way back then, my mind did not look outside the box………it lived outside the box.

  9. Rockflower, there is no reason that you cannot lay in your bed and be as comfortable as possible to meditate. There are no rules! ‘Parts of my body’ do not allow me to sit in a beautiful lotus pose to meditate so I found my ‘special place’ in my bed. I call it my ‘cacoon’ when I meditate and do very well.
    A therapist I had a while back used a form of NLP (neurolinguistic programming’ to help me solve a huge problem I had and it worked so well I cried for 24 hours feeling the horrible feeling I had and it never returned. I was totally free of it. She was actually an Art Therapist and great in the field of therapy.
    Twice, with my mom who had cancer I attended a healing Mass done by Fr. Dennis Kelleher, C.Ss.R. Who was involved in the Charismatic Movement. The energy in the church was unbelievable and all who went up to the altar fell backwards to the floor being caught going down by the ushers. The priest merely put his hands on the crown of our heads and it (call it what you may, we chose tge Holy Spitit)) came down through us. If you didn’t have faith after that you never would or could. This feeling stayed with us for a few days….just perfect peace and love. It was proof enough for me to continue to pursue whatever I felt I must do in my life. I was raised Roman Catholic and at a very early age of 7 years old found a very compassionate love for Jesus and I guess a seed was planted. We had a coloring book in school with a picture of Jesus with the children showing the illustration of the Bible verse “Suffer the little children to come unto me”. So that was that. Did that make my life easier to live? Not by a longshot! The peace and love I expected to find was…..need I say more?
    …but I think I blabbered enough!
    Thanks, again, Rose, for writing this blog.

  10. Rose43, you never blabber when you speak from your experience and from your heart. I hope to spark others to think and comment on a subject. I tried to say less in this one for that reason. I appreciate all comments. Rose43, if you or anyone benefits in any way, it is worth my time to write.

    1. To keep trying is what we need to do in most everything. That is the hardest thing to do in later years. I went to the gym yesterday and I am not incapacitated today, so I need to go again.

  11. I think we all need to have a dream… and set goals for the future..but not to the point of forgetting to fully enjoy the present time ! I have to work at not worrying about “tomorrow” because whatever happens tomorrow is going to happen whether i worry about it or not.

    “If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” ~Author Unknown

  12. Misschey, I love that quote. I want to make a point. There is a difference between worrying and planning. Many times we need to change a worry to a plan. If you cannot make a plan to do something, you just need to put if out of your mind. If you are worrying about getting sick, you can buy a disability insurance for example. Sometimes worry is actually telling us that we need to do something. We can worry about old age and death, we all do it some, but it needs to make the life we do have more precious.
    I like your comments.