I’m not going to try to answer this question from a technological point of view, but rather from a psychological one. How often are we saying to ourselves that when we’ll get something we’ll be happier? How many times we’re letting the tomorrow interfere with the today? How many opportunities to be happy we’re missing just because we’re thinking about something in the future that might make us feel happy?
It’s absolutely normal to spend some time making plans and imagining how your life will be in the future, but that should be only a part of your day. I think that 80% of your day should be spent living that day, not the future. If we concentrate too much on the future, we’re ignoring everything and everyone around us and it might not be in the good way. If we’re concerning about the future so much, we should have plans and daily steps that can get us there. In this way, we are getting in control of our life and we can feel every day.
Living in the future might be addictive because the feelings we’re getting from that are mostly good. It’s a way to escape the daily crap because we’re getting the feeling that everything will be great. It’s nothing wrong with this as long as we’re doing something to get there. If all we have are hopes and dreams, it’s bad… we should have actions too…
Fighting for our future is the best thing we can do and we should realize that every action we make it’s somehow influencing our future and we might not like it.
We shouldn’t ignore the today for the tomorrow, but instead we should live the today so we can have the tomorrow we’re dreaming of.
Another thought-provoking question!
Thank you! 😀
I try to remind myself this all of the time. Just. Be. Here.
Yes! Because it’s the only way we can control that future! By being Here!
Mindfulness! It’s very important not to try and figure out all the potential chess moves and repercussions of every single moment – focusing only on the “what if?”. It takes so much away from the beauty and magic that is “now”. That doesn’t mean you should go and spend your rent money on something you really want because you have the money now – you’ve got to have some practical application of planning.
I’m always taken aback when I see something like the Olympic opening ceremonies, and the participants are all holding up their phones or tablets to record what’s going on. I feel like they’re missing out on the actual event by trying to record it. I certainly feel distracted by attempting to take a photo at a show I paid good money to see. Live in that moment – don’t trust tech to remember the emotions for you.
Great insight! And if we think about it, we don’t even look at those photos or videos more that once or maybe two times.
Great reminder to be present now. One of my favorite personalized license plates is: HERE NOW.
Very true! We need to be here now because that’s actually where we physically are.
Planning is good, but I try to be present to enjoy the now
True! The 80/20 rule applies here as well so 80% enjoying the now and 20% planning the future.