The wheels are turning…
I appreciate your thoughts and comments on state-of-mind and yesterday’s blog.
Similar to the concept of TIME are the thoughts a person will maintain throughout a pocket of time. It is controlled and inescapable. We think as time passes…
Yet, what resonates most soundly to me is that unlike the inevitability of time passing is the CHOICE we have in determining WHAT we will think about.
Past – Memory of a clown holding a balloon in the park. (Don’t ask me why Stephen King’s It was the first example given.)
Present – The knock on my office door to remind me that it is, in fact, 12:37pm, Lunch time.
Future – question marks (?) Beach? Great phone call from my wife? Dinner plans? Unpaid bills?
To reiterate some great feedback from yesterday’s blog, Past and Future thoughts hold some positives (and often, not a few negatives). The Past and Future can be triggers to painful memories and big Question marks that cause fear to lunge inside our stomachs.
Present state-of-mind thinkers are aware of the other two parties, but capable and aware also of knowing that it is indeed Lunch time. If a sandwich or something isn’t consumed, the memories and (?) marks ultimately stop. The present thinker knows to stand up, stretch, walk around the building. But…the point-of-view is TODAY. Here. Now!
I saw this quote and thought of our talks from yesterday:
“A backward glance is sometimes helpful to secure our present state of being and cause a swell of thankfulness in our otherwise ungrateful and complacent hearts, but to dwell long in the dimness of long ago is to rob ourselves of the gloriously bright future.”
It was at the bottom of a colleague’s email signature. I don’t know who said it, and I couldn’t find it online (Imagine that). But, I love the description in the quote: “backward” “dwell” “rob” are all words meant to explain effects of past-thinking. Similarly, words such as “glance” “helpful” “cause” are paired to this message to showcase how perspective (and memories) can assist the present thinker before stepping into that uncertain (?) future.
Here’s another great one from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
“Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart.”
I love the description of a “shadowy” future. Where he states there isn’t “fear” but a “manly” heart.
Beautiful language to summarize outlooks and perspectives. Will our points-of-view always be flawed and often slanted towards imperfections while we live? Sure.
But…the TIME that controls us doesn’t control the CHOICE that we’ve been given to remain steadfastly present, learning from experience, and ever hopeful of tomorrow.
