Imagining is not the same as living! You can engage your mind in 'what-ifs' about the future. You can spend all your time imagining 'what-ifs' about the past.

 

Neither disappointment about the past nor worry about the future make any difference to the outcome. You still experience life moment by moment.

 

 

Let's use our mind to picture a situation.

 

Imagine that you are along a path when you come to two doors. You know that behind each door is a path that leads to some unknown adventure. Neither path is right or wrong. Each will give you a living experience.

 

No matter which door you choose, your life will take you in that direction. And, you will have to follow wherever that path leads and through whatever obstacles you encounter.

 

If you are afraid of the unknown,  you may choose to stand and simply be, lost in your fear.  Life is full of surprises. You still pass through the obstacles you encounter.

 

If, having chosen the path of least effort and you make the best of every moment, then you will find peace and joy. No matter which door you choose, there will always be one you did not choose.

 

If, on the other hand, you live a life of regret because you did not open one those doors, then you will miss the opportunity to live life in full appreciation of every moment.

 

The moment you have experienced something, seen it, heard it, felt it, touched it, tasted it, smelled it, it has already become "what is". You cannot change 'what is'. It is forever a "done deal".  You can fight all you want, you cannot erase it.

 

Accept what is and move on. 

 

Recently, Dan, who is the moderator of our Thursday night group and a friend, put this same idea very eloquently.

 

"The past does not really exist. This means that the future does not really exist. This is because you cannot have a future without a past, just like you cannot have an inside without an outside. But YOU exist. YOU KNOW this to be TRUE and furthermore this is the only fact that YOU really know. So if YOU exist, then you must exist NOW and not in the future or the past.

To exist in the dimension of NOW, without a future or past, means that you are Eternal. On the other hand, what does exist in the past and the future are your acquired personalities, which are processes running in your mind and are not eternal. And, if you believe you are these personalities, then you may unknowingly believe that you may not continue.  Dan"