Posted on 11/27/2015 6:03:04 PM PST by sparklite2
Most lifestyle "gurus" have sold us on the idea of living for the moment, that right now is all that exists, and that we should only do that which makes us feel good.
Although this advice is alluring and justifying, it often fails to produce desirable results in the real world. Actually, in many cases, it ruins people's lives.
Living for the moment is the reason people leave marriages, lose control over their health, and why America is trillions of dollars in debt.
Instead of living for the moment, it is better to live for the past, as you'd prefer to remember that moment, and your life in general. Indeed, time is fleeting. The present moment barely exists. The moment you become conscious of it, it's over.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
“Living for the moment” has been pushed as part of the pop cultural revolution of the 1960s.
It has always been extremely destructive.
No problem. At my age I spend most of my time in the past ... so to speak.
I never have liked the “live in the present” idea. Animals live in the present because they live by instinct with little or no memory or planning for the future. The ability to not live in the present is one thing that separates us from animals.
I also have far less by way of fear by living in the now.
I dunno, it works for me. Plan for a future, but live in the now. Learn from a past, but live in the now.
Agreed. I have a whole lot more past behind me than future ahead. Living in the moment at my age is a willing appreciation of the consciousness we will all lose.
” little or no memory “
Never had a dog?
Good way to put it.
That’s why I prefer to live in the future. “Tomorrow I’ll mow the grass. Tomorrow I’ll go to the store. Tomorrow I’ll clean the gutters.”
It’s not living for the moment, it’s living in the moment. Big, big difference.
The only moment we have is the present moment. When the next one comes, it too is the present moment. Live the best you can in this moment and you set a chain of causation for the next one.
Now is the only time we CAN live.
Exactly. So many of us don’t stop to notice the beauty around us all the time in nature, other people, art, etc.; and, most importantly, to feel Grateful for it!
I think gratitude is one of the most useful and edifying emotions that we can feel.
-JT
My causation chain needs timing.
Exactly.
Yuge, as someone might say.
I think it was an old Jewish meme that went, “Take time to savor every moment of life, because when you’re dead, you’re dead for a very long time.”
Or as Firesign Theatre put it in an interview with a resurrected Marilyn Monroe ....
“Thank you for being here, Miss Monroe.”
“It’s good to be here. It’s good to be ANYWHERE.”
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