Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery.. today is a gift that is why we call it “the present”.. :)
Such a beautiful, meaningful, deep thought…. However, the word “present” is meaningless to us in today’s world; it’s just another word. We are so busy worrying about future, regretting the past, judging people, getting insecure, and thereby making life difficult for ourselves as well as for others, that we forget the real meaning of “present”.
Do you know why do we feel so lovely when we spend time with kids? It’s only because they don’t have a care in the world. They live in the “now”. They don’t care about who you are, what you do or what they would be doing when they grow up. All they care about is that you are spending time with them. And they’re immensely happy because of that. They don’t demand anything, or have any kind of a negative emotion in them. And because they have accepted us for the way we are, we are also in a sense of happiness and in a state of bliss when we are with them. Aah, it is such a blessing to be a child…. Absolutely no worries at all… just carefree fun and frolic.
So you can argue saying that yes, kids don’t have to worry about anything, because their parents take care of their needs. But once we grow up, we need to take care of ourselves. So more responsibilities and maturity required. We need to think about our careers, jobs, etc. worry automatically creeps up. Yeah so? Do you really have to “worry” about these things? Dictionary.com defines worry as” to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts”. To worry is to “torment” oneself. Now I fail to understand why a person would want to torture oneself by “worrying” about things. I’ve had experiences with people in the past who worry about the most ridiculous things. I mean its like looking at an ant from under an ultra powerful microscope and seeing a dinosaur and getting freaked. Its totally unnecessary. And this is just one part of how we fail to live in the present. There is also insecurity; jealousy and misunderstanding that pull us back from living in the present. Why?
What most of us have forgotten, including myself, is that we get life just once. And the saddest part is that we think we are going to live forever. So, we postpone doing things. Things, which should be given priority, are not given importance. Because we think, we have a lot of time. And so, all the negative emotions come into play. Namely the above-mentioned insecurity, misunderstandings and jealousy. According to me, insecurity is the biggest emotional block that all of us face. Insecurity is what causes jealousy and misunderstandings. All of us are insecure somewhere deep down and I feel insecurity is the root cause of all problems. We are afraid of being judged by others, so we want to be the best. We want to be the best so we compare ourselves with others, and if we find that we’re not good enough, crash goes our confidence and in creeps jealousy. We want to be accepted by others so we pretend to be what we’re not. We are so busy with these meaningless things that we forget to do what we really love. We pretend, pretend and only pretend. The story narrated below would totally explain exactly what I want to say.
LIFE IS LIKE A CUP OF COFFEE
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
There…. Perfectly summarized what I was trying to say. We end up spending so much of our time complaining, worrying, regretting, that we forget how beautiful the NOW moment is. The future is unknown. Why do you want to think negative and worry? Most important, why do we feel only negative things will happen to us?
So people, lets take an oath this instant that we will live in the “NOW” and have absolutely no place for any negative thought or emotion. If we have a habit of comparing, lets compare ourselves to ourselves; us today vs. us yesterday. Am I better person today? This checkpoint will help us grow immensely. So stay happy, stay healthy and do what you love.
Cheers all!! :) keep growing!! :D
PS: the story mentioned above was taken from www.spiritualshortstories.com.... :)
