Every day we have 86,400 seconds and concurrent 86,400 decisions. Every second comes with a choice, with a verdict and with a judgment from you. You are accountable for your own clock because for all I know, time only gets shorter. You repeatedly find yourself thinking about how you could’ve done things differently in your previous year, how you could’ve not wasted the time you wasted, how you could’ve been more productive back then and just after that, in a flicker of the flame, you always and ultimately find yourself figuring out how you will do better in the future, how you will do things like you’ve never done them before.

How often have you experienced this fleeting bliss and then you have despondently retrieved back to your old ways? I don’t see why you choose to entangle yourself in the history of the past and in the mysteries of the future for you and I, we both know, you are helpless in either of the situations.

I urge you to seek ‘the present’. As I firmly believe it is one thing we can govern over. I urge you to grab ‘the now’, for I firmly believe it is the only thing that we ever have. I urge you to seek this very instant for who knows how long is there before it becomes history. In my eye, there are two things, which may help you grab hold of this present moment

Priority

Priority leads you to grasp the present for it signifies a man’s resolution for his goals. The moment you sort out your priorities, your to-do list earns more ticks. Your priorities measure how desperate you are for your goals. Prioritising tasks makes you accomplish your goals. It makes you dedicate your time to what you really want, for priorities help you find a way and not an excuse.

Commitment

The second crucial contributing factor is commitment. On a scale of one to ten, how committed you are to what you want to achieve? It measures your eagerness for your goals. Prioritising chores makes you determined and this perseverance of yours makes you conquer your ambitions for it makes you either find a way or make one.

Start now

Living in the past makes you depressed and living in the future makes you anxious, the only way you can be contented is if you try and live in the present, because it’s all you’ll ever have. I believe out of these three things, if anything is opted, it will eventually create the perception of another.

So to have a balanced life, live in the present and not in the past or the future. The past leaves an impression on us, while the future makes us anxious of the unseen, let us not dwell in between. Live this moment to the fullest; make your present better for it will make your future brighter and when this present will become the past, in the future, you will cherish your (past) memories!

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 5th, 2018