Living In The Moment

One of the most important principles I have gleaned thus far in my path into enlightenment in Buddhism is living in the moment.

Living in the moment makes everything much, much more simple.

Not living in the moment is an excellent way to build up stress. Not living in the moment means one of two things: you’re either contemplating the past or thinking about the future. Of course there are exceptions (e.g. reminiscing, looking forward to starting a family in a few years), but in general thinking about the past and future is stressful, whether you see it or not.

The past is currently a series of unchangeable events and therefore should not be pondered (in a negative light). Regretting the past does you no good whatsoever; regretting the past only causes emotional distress and is entirely avoidable. You cannot change the past. At all. Don’t fret about it. Instead of regretting the past, learn from your mistakes and apply this wisdom to your future life and make changes accordingly.

Fretting about the future is equally avoidable. Granted, since the future has not come to past, it is harder to keep a cool head about something that will be stressful in the future. Yeah, that genetics exam might be really hard, but stressing over the exam a week ahead of time will only make your week up until the exam exceedingly stressful. Stressing over future events only makes the current day more stressful than it needs to be. Take each day at a time in preparation for a future event.

By looking forward to an event an undisclosed amount of time in the future, you diminish the quality of the moment you are currently in. A lot of people often look forward to something, say a vacation, and fail to appreciate the here and now. This is important for two main reasons: one, the here and now may be just as important as the future (and could be equally appreciated), and two, by looking forward (e.g. “Like OMG I like CANNOT WAIT for so and so), you tend to regret the day you’re currently living, which makes life harder at that point in time. By always anticipating the future one forgets to appreciate what that day may hold and add stress by not enjoying, and even disliking, their current day/week, etc. leading up until that totally radical vacation with your cute little boyfriend, etc.

Appreciating the here and now makes the current time much more enjoyable. This picture is a little silly, but I remember this moment pretty well even though it happened quite some time ago. My friends and I were just casually hanging out while one of them was proctoring one of the university buildings here on campus, and it was a blast during an ordinary time. /end awkward silly caption

Living in the moment does three things: it prevents your from regretting the past (reducing stress), prevents you from fretting about the future (reducing stress), but most importantly allows you to appreciate the here and now. This last part is commonly over looked. It might be as simple as appreciating the beauty of a bed of flowers, or an ephemeral feeling experienced through out your day. By appreciating the little things during your day, you will find your day will be much more manageable and enjoyable. Don’t stress the negative things. Appreciate the positive things. Live and love and learn.