Happiness

[azekeil]

I've written about this before, and although this article is rather new-agey about it all, it does actually make sense and tie in with the way I have been thinking.

It does make me realise that I do live a lot in the future, and that really I need to concentrate more on living in the present. I wonder how best to do that? At least I'm doing a job I enjoy (most of the time), and I have plans for the future which allow me to relax now. Finally, I guess, I want to get the house stuff out of the way so I can concentrate on socialising.. but there I go again, living in the future. I think a certain amount of it is unavoidable. How do I live mainly in the present though?

What do you think about living more in the present? Do you live in the past or the future?

Comments

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I live very much in the present, to the extent that it sometimes trips me up, or causes problems when I'm interacting with people who like to have some kind of plan worked out. I do think it helps me to be happier though.

"Carpe diem" :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Do you find your focus on the present causes you problems other than social interaction?

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Well, walking nose-first into unpleasant aspects of the near-future seems to be the most common unfortunate side-effect. Living for the moment does seem tend to encourage procrastination to a near-disastrous extent.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Is living in the present a conscious decision of yours would you say? Or do you find you tend to do so anyway? If it's a conscious decision, why did you make the choice?

[invisigoth51.livejournal.com]

I live permenantly in the nearest summer holiday. So half the year i live the in future.... then 8 weeks in the present then a few months living in the nearest christmas.... then the nearest christmas present etc... etc...

Though i understand what you mean... i also tend the daydream rather excessivly about 'the future' this being at the moment, the time when i'm no longer a student and can move on with my life.... but then i bet there'll be some new thing to look forward to... maybe you're right. We should all enjoy what's going on now while it lasts.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Well it's not necessarily my opinion - it seems to be that of others, and I can see its value, but I'm not certain that is all there is to it. Although it's probably worth exploring why you look into the future a lot of the time, so you can at least understand the reasons for it.

[sepheri.livejournal.com]

I live too much int he future.
I have a terrible habit of coming up with fantastic ideas and grand plans but never doing the gound work in the present to ever get anything off the ground.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, just do the planning but I guess - you know where A is, you've just dreampt up B, now work out how to get from one to the other :)

[sepheri.livejournal.com]

Its more a case of being at A, dreaming up Z and forgetting that the rest of the alphabet even exists.

[dylan.livejournal.com]

I'd like to live more in the present, but so many of my friends seem to need to plan for everything months in advance. I like to just drop everything and do what I feel like at the time.

As dennyd pointed out above, this does lead to lots of things not getting done, but hey, at least I'm not as stressed.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Heh.. well it's a balance, as with all things I think. My balance is a bit skewed most of the time towards thinking about the future, but I think I do a reasonable job of enjoying the present when I do :)

[cryx]

i think it's good to live in the now, but mostly I'm in the future or past.... bah.. if you find any good tricks, let me know!