What will you do with this present?

​How does one live in the present moment?​ I’ve asked myself that more than a couple times after reading something like an inspirational quote.​

But I’ve come to understand the cliché advice better.​

A thought struck me the other day: there is no other moment than the present one. There is no tomorrow, just a thought ‘box’ in our mind that represents tomorrow.​

It’s simple, but we forget it so often.

For instance, we think that tomorrow, we will somehow miraculously change and do the thing we’ve been putting of for ages. We rarely do.

Dreams also live in the future.​ But we don’t experience the future, we experience NOW.​ If we rely on the future to magically make us happy, we are deluding ourselves. We are hoping for the future moments to be different from the present ones.​ Relying on hope for a wonderful future is not a sound strategy.

The question we need to ask ourselves more is:

What can I do now that will bring the future I want closer?

And then do something.​

To conclude, I will cite the awesome Master Oogway from Kung-Fu Panda:

“You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

​ What are you going to do with this present?