One tendril into the future ...

The idea of living (and acting) in the NOW … has been around for a long time now (no pun intended) … but has been much popularised by religions like Buddhism and authors like Eckhart Tolle. There is a lot of merit in living in the NOW … particularly in view of the fact that our much evolved cerebral cortex loves pulling us into the past (that no longer exists) and propelling us into the future (a future that may or may not eventuate). People worry about things that have happened long ago and worry more still about things that may or may not eventuate … this tendency, separates us from the animal kingdom, allows us to invent things, improve technologically and learn from past mistakes - but it does pull us away from the joys to be experienced by living in the now. So that’s it … in a nutshell … except for one thing ….

I don’t want to live only in the NOW … I want to invest 10% of my mind/my thinking/my energy in planning for tomorrow … just in case it turns up! And it has so far, on many, many occasions! So just as I would recommend that people invest 10% of everything they earn to secure their financial independence - I would also recommend we invest 10% of our thinking in planning for tomorrow. 

To bring it to the mat - certainly, stay largely in the NOW … don’t dwell on what has just happened, stay focussed on what is happening right NOW … on a second by second basis. BUT, I also have some part of my mind working on thinking about what ‘may’ happen, where things ‘may’ end up a few seconds into the future. So if things don’t go my way … I am just that little bit more prepared.

Live in the NOW … yes … but invest some small part of your thinking for the future. Even squirrels have worked this out … and they have a brain the size of a peanut. No disrespect intended Squirrels. JBW