Saturday, May 30, 2009

Present imperfect, Future tense....fingers crossed and dreams Immense

"I wish I bought that blue dress that was on "sale" the other day ! Today it is at full price."
"Some day I will go to Switzerland and ski on the Alps."
"I could have been in that Ivy league school. What am I doing here?"
"I wish I had a perfect 10 figure to be able to get into that swim suit."
"Had I enough money to buy that Mustang, I won't be driving this Corolla."
"Oh, why didn't that relationship work out? I would have been much happier if it did."


What is common to all these statements? Our constant denial of the Now and persistence in living our lives in the future or the past. The present is never, ever perfect as per our expectations.

Having dreams and aspirations to be successful and happier is justified. But to what lengths do we go to attain that state and forgo the smaller moments of happiness that we over-look any given day?

You may wish that some relationship in the past would have worked out for some "logical" reason. But are you ignoring the possibility of finding someone better right now or blocking your vision to find anyone who could be a lot better?

You wish having a perfect figure, but there is this gorgeous dress that no one can carry as well as you can.

Wish to be in a better school? But are you overlooking the pros of being at this university, where I breezed through with attaining that financial grant, write up research papers and have a presence in your department from day 1.

I want to ski on the Alps for sure. But what about the combination of mountains and the ocean where you currently staying. Isn't that an unforgettable, deadly combination to die for and hard to find anywhere else?

Why are we never happy ? One of the reasons is simply because we hardly appreciate what we have and waste time longing for something better altogether.
You are having this amazing Molten chocolate cake with ice-cream. But no I want that Hot-fudge ice-cream at Ghiradelli Square.
This club has awesome music. I can shake a leg but I wish my school friends were here and I'd have an even better time.

Living in the Now is not easy no doubt. However, it is not impossible too.

Dream and dream on...sure. Unless you dream and work towards living them, achieving goals would be a far fetched thought. But in this mad rat race, do you want to spend lesser quality time with your loved ones; have lesser time to be engaged in activities that give you immense joy; write a facebook wall-post or email those who are just a call away; waste time thinking having a perfect family when you don't have enough moments to spare for your kids or spouse; having that career you always dreamed of and overlooking the possibility to excel in the current capacity in this profile.

Nothing is perfect. It is upto us to choose to continue to be dissatisfied and live in the future.

Just because the rest of the world has that video game or that fancy cell phone, I need it too.
Running with the crowd is easy but what is harder is to stay your ground , be realistic and not be one of that crowd. Dreams are awesome but not enjoying the now isn't.
As one of my favortie quotes says, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

Tomorrow never comes as desired. Might as well live today and worry about tomorrow when it does come.

7 comments:

Supriya Misra said...

nice.....really like it!

De-Sants said...

time to chew on ur little brains ! my apologies for that !

"Living in the Now is not easy no doubt. However, it is not impossible too" ...

1. So, HOW do we live in the NOW is unanswered ?

2.And why is it easy for us to escape from the NOW ??

geetanjali kelkar said...

Good job! very well written,
I would like to see you follow up on the thought later, but even now, it is complete, just by itself.

linisax said...

Thanks for the kudos.
@ Sants: to answer your questions, you should read "Practicing the Power of Now". All your answers are in there. My blog was just an off-shoot of snap-shot of the same. A blog is too short to explain these answers.

De-Sants said...

ok fine shalini..when u get time, i wud like u to watch the hollywood flick - "A peaceful warrior" that talks about NOW too.

Parashar said...

Well shalini I have some contradicting ideas on your post. What I think is that the title of your blog is misleading its contents. Because the 4-5 points which you have mentioned, not necessary all, but some do suggest a different thought. But rest of your contents are good.

Anuradha Rawat said...

great post!
got me thinking for sure... about the present and not the future :)
written very well..
kudos to u gal!
keep writing...