When the average person wonders about how to enjoy life more, the phrase 'live in the moment' often comes to mind. The reality is that our past and our possible future can have a significant effect on our present. You can't always completely forget the past, and you can't be irresponsible about your future. You will have a happier life if you keep the past, present, and future in the proper perspective.
The PastDon't dwell on things that you can't change. It is a complete waste of energy to wallow in regret, frustration or anger once all is said and done. If you messed up, get up and try again. If you missed your chance to fix it, let it go. If someone did something to you, forgive them and move on.
Celebrate the most positive things about your past. Take the time to remember the good times, the small (or large) achievements, and the special memories that have made your relationships and life worthwhile. Remember, the past was years ago, last week, yesterday, or two minutes ago. No matter how excellent or horrible it was, today probably won't be the same. While it is reasonable to reflect, you must move forward. Don't try to recreate the good of yesterday, because you can probably do better. Draw lessons from what you have experienced, good or bad, but don't dwell on history.
The Present"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."―Brendan Gill, author. Overall, the best way to address your daily life is to try not to get too serious. Here are some ways that you can do that:
- Strive to have balance between work and pleasure―perhaps even have both at the same time. If something isn't fun to you, try to make it fun in one way or another. Otherwise, get through it as quickly as possible and reward yourself with something that you do love to do ASAP. Don't just have and attitude of dread and complain about how much you hate it. If you plan to reward yourself, at least you will have something to look forward to.
- Give yourself quiet time. Even if all you have is 15 minutes a day to yourself, make it count. Quiet your mind and find the inner peace that you need to keep yourself sane.
- Love people with all you have, and forgive quickly. Give so much love to those you care about that they have no doubts about how you feel. Life is too short to deny yourself of great human bonds or torture yourself because of offense.
- Laugh at yourself. Trust me, it feels great.
The FutureDefine the purpose of your life. What will your contribution to the world be? Think of a way to use your gifts and talents to make a difference in other people's lives. When you are ready to pass into the next world and you look back on your life, what will you have accomplished? Think of that big picture when all the little annoyances, aggravations, and inconveniences come up in your day-to-day life. Just shrug it off, because in the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't even matter.
Set goals, dream dreams, and work towards them. It is better to have a huge dream and accomplish half of that dream than to set low goals and reach them knowing you could have done more. Expect good things to happen. While things may not turn out exactly the way you picture them, it will still be good if you hope for the best.
Accept that the past as over, make the most of every moment, and look forward to the future. Don't look back at failures, don't second guess yourself today, and plan on having a great future.
