I generally like to keep on top of my work, but recently I’ve found myself procrastinating. Sometimes I know a deadline isn’t coming for a while, so I can put it off. I believed that the time to do it was sometime in the future.
In fact, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the things I am meant to do in the future, even in moments when I can’t do anything about it. I’ve spent more time than I care to count worrying about things I’m meant to do, even though the worrying is not helping me at all.
But it’s not just the future – it’s also the past. I found myself lingering around past thoughts. A conversation someone had with me. I relive the frustration or anger, as if it were happening today. Suddenly these emotions are seeping into the feelings I’m having right now.
Most of us tend to see-saw between these alternate realities. Either we are stuck in the past, or wondering about the future. But what if neither of them actually exist?
The past only exists in our memories which we bring into the present through our current thoughts. The future can permeate in all sorts of different ways that we cannot predict, and yet we spend a whole lot of time thinking about it. Think about the things that you might have worried about – how often have you found that they didn’t actually happen? For me, it is most of the time.
If there is no past or future, it only leaves the now. Now is a beautiful, powerful place in which we can create whatever we want, and we can do it. Right here, right now.
By taking the emphasis away from what might have happened in the past or what might happen in the future, we take control of our own destinies. It stops us from creating our lives based upon the past. It also stops us from putting off making changes in our life to some distant future. We can do these things now.
Author and Coach Steve Chandler talks about non-linear time management. The idea behind it is that we work only in the now. If the action is something we can do, we do it now. If we cannot do it now, then there is no point in thinking about it.
This mindset shift has been a revelation for me. I’ve found a newly gained freedom from life. I’ve found the walks I’ve been on recently some of the most joyous moments of my life. Not because anything particularly profound happened, but because I’m increasingly letting go of the illusion of the past and future. When I return to the fact that there is only now, I can really just be. From here, enjoying life is easy. When I have a task to do, I just do it. When it’s done, I don’t have to worry about it.
A big shift was realising that thinking about the future actually does nothing to change it. All it does is leave me feeling less happy and more anxious. From this place, I’m less likely to actually do the thing I wanted to.
For the past, forgiveness is key. When we can learn to truly forgive, we can forget. It leaves us feeling way lighter. We can then be ready to embrace the now fully.
The irony is that it’s been there the whole time. In the same way it is available for me, it is available to you and everyone else.
There is no past. There is no future. There is only now.