I came across this quote yesterday:
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
—The Buddha
It’s sensible advice, and I do try to live it, but I’m afraid I find the quote itself boring. It doesn’t have the energy of this little poem:
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who secure within can say
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
—John Dryden, 1631-1700
I don’t have Dryden’s courage (audacity? foolishness?) to say “tomorrow do thy worst,” so I’ll just stick to this ancient Sanskrit poem:
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the truths and realities of existence:The joy of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power.For yesterday is but a memory,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
a memory of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
It may be overly optimistic, but it’s cheerful, and it doesn’t scare me as much as Dryden’s does!
Do you have any favorite quotes/poems on this subject?
July 25, 2015
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k?la? pachati bh?t?ni, k?la? sa?harate praj?? |
k?la? supte?hu j?garti, k?lo hi duratikrama? ||
Time devours all things, Time kills all that are born.
Time is awake while all else sleeps, Time is insurmountable.
– Vidura in Mahabharata.
Time in other words marches on and the wise neither regret and revel in what has already gone, nor look forward to a static future, which will not tarry for one’s pleasure. All that is real is the now.
It seems Frankl disagrees with that when he says,
On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. …
…he will think. ‘Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.’ ”
I agree with Frankl, some reveling in the past can enrich our lives.
A pity that the Sanskrit original script has come out as question marks!
Is this it?
my favorite lines of that beautiful poem …
but today, well lived, makes every yesterday
a memory of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
look well, therefore, to this day!
which makes me think… i have never been one to ‘set goals.’ always in the future… planning and worrying… and striving always.
we are told it’s important to be goal oriented. but not for me.
what works for me is staying alert… being aware… yet living just today.
i don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. but it has made for inner peace and happiness for me. 🙂 not saying of course… you have to know you can pay your bills next month! LOL!!!
It’s a lot easier once we’re retired, isn’t it? 🙂
No wonder you don’t like Dryden. Think about it. And he didn’t.
“Tomorrow” will be tomorrow’s “today”. Then what? I am very much (almost childlike) “live today, tomorrow will look after itself”. Don’t bank on it. Many a day in recent times have I woken in a cold sweat with a groan, all of TODAY’s sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges waiting for me. Till today is yesterday and tomorrow is tomorrow, and in that sandwich I am my own filling.
Anyway, and you probably won’t like me for saying it: All those “living today” mantras just highlight how shit scared we all are of death.Which incidentally may occur before the day is out. That’s the good thing about yesterday. You weren’t dead then.
U
I’ve been aware of how transient life is since I was a kid. It can lead to, “Life is too short to be petty.” And “You only live once, and if you work it right, once is enough.” I’m with Woody Allen, I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. In the meantime I’m appreciating what I have while I still have it, and as health problems come up, doing the best I can with what I have left. There are no guarantees in life.
That said, Andy and I never expected tomorrow would take care of itself. We saved money to give us choices when times got tough. We enjoyed doing it, so it wasn’t a sacrifice. They were happy times too.
well of that makes very little sense to me – I’ll just continue on my own way – looking back, around and maybe even a little forward – and I’m quite sure it will be all for the good…
Yes, you seem to be doing just fine!