ENJOY THE PRESENT TO BRIGHTEN THE FUTURE

                                                                                       -By Milan K Sinha

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly". - Buddha.

However, generally speaking, we have a common habit. Most of the time, either we talk about our past or our future. In fact, majority of us do live either in past or in future. In the process, our present, which is the most important time in our life, slips right by. We put off things for tomorrow which should have been accomplished today. That’s why, I tell:

जिस 'युग' में अच्छे कामों को
‘कल’ पर छोड़ा जाता है, 
वही युग ‘कलयुग ' कहलाता है !

Dale Carnegie says: "one of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”

When you are stressed and not feeling well, just take a pause and ask yourself, are you living in the present? Believe me, when you are anxious, you are living in future and when you are depressed, you are living in the past. In contrast, when you live in the present, everything is wonderful, bright, shiny and pleasant. Just watch children playing, they completely live in the present and don’t worry about the future which is nothing but today one day after. They simply play and enjoy the game of life. In short, if you are not living in the present, may be, you are not living at all. So, it is rightly said, 

"Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, 
Tomorrow is a promissory note, 
Today is ready cash - use it."

We all wish to be successful in life, and rightly so. But the success in life is basically due to your action and there is no time like the present to do it. You are the doer and you are the achiever. Struggle and comfort are two sides of the same coin. Our future can only be secured and worthy of it only if we do justice with our present by living and enjoying it fully. In the poem below, Edgar Guest tries to outline such sentiments:

If you have a song to sing, sing it now
Let the tone of gladness ring,
Clear as song of bird in spring
Let each day some music bring
Sing it now.
… …. ….. …..
If you have smile to show
Show it now
Make hearts happy, rose grow
Let the friends around you know
The love you have before they go
Show it now.

So, keeping in view the aforesaid and also saluting the sentiments expressed in the poem above, many of us enjoy both pain and gain in life by sharing and caring based on the philosophy which may be expressed in following few lines:

"Past is history, future is a mystery, and present is a 'lovely present' presented to us by the Almighty to let us live in the present, enjoy it and let others around us enjoy it too."

                                                         Will meet again with Open Mind.All the Best.

# Published in Patna Daily.com

* Do visit my site : milanksinha.com