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Why Does Now Matter?
Only in the here-and-now can you be truly aware and mindful.
Our society has an unhealthy obsession with the past and the future. You are probably familiar with that. Lots of people looking backward nostalgically to times that never were, or looking forward to improvements yet to come.
Personally, we tend to mirror this practice. We look back to our past actions, and examine our victories and failings along the way; or we look ahead, hoping to create better for ourselves and see improvements over the past.
What many people tend to ignore, however, is the here-and-now. Right here, right now, they only time that is completely real, and that truly matters. As Lao Tzu said, “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.” Albert Einstein said, “Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live.”
We cannot undo the past, nor can we predict the future. Further, we can only influence and control our own thoughts, feelings, and actions. You and I are only truly mindful of our thoughts and feelings right here, right now.
Why does now matter? Because now is the only time that is truly real. Quoting Einstein again:
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
