Past, Present, and Future!!

Past, Present and Future!!

What does this mean? We all have something bad in the past and how you replay that situation depends on you and your state of mind. How we process things is what makes us happy or sad.

"If you are depressed you are living in the past, if you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present" Quote by Lao Tzu

That is a great quote but in life this is very hard to follow, it takes practice to get you in the present frame of mind. In my work we discuss mindset, hmmmm what does that mean? Isn't that future thinking?

Life is full of: What ifs? Why's? How come? What could I have done? and if only? 

Are you sick to your stomach yet? I am, I have replayed my past so many times, that when I look back now it makes me want to vomit! Why because I am now looking at the present. Do I reflect on the past? Sure, an example is I use my past as a tool to help others understand how my family survived having cancer 3 times.

 I recently did a podcast (details coming soon) it was 2.5 hours of reliving the nightmare of my children being sick. I am and have been mentally drained for the whole weekend because it was exhausting to bring up those old memories from the past. BUT, I did it because if that is someones present situation maybe my words will help them now! As I relived it, it sucked but I do not look back and ask "what if, or why". I believe everything happens to me for a reason. It sucked then but this it is in the past and there is nothing I can do about it. I have to live for now and so should YOU!

Letting go of the past means "Bye Bye depression". PS I had help from a doctor to get over depression and past thinking. Here are a few tools the doctor gave me. Medication if you need it, then get off it, yoga, focus on you and your needs and meditation. But the quickest way to overcome depression is to live in the PRESENT! That is a fact I promise, but you need all the tools to make it happen. So get help and talk to someone(a friend, a professional) and be a champion for YOU!!

Now to future thinking, lordy lordy if you are in the working world this is all you do. Plan, forecast, assume, and imagine what if! Is this what they mean by mindset? Hmmmm I don't think so! Not in my mind anymore. Mindset is living in the present and understanding you can not control the future. You can glance ahead and make a simple forecast only based on facts in the present. You are not accountable for the future and you are in the position you are in because you are good at the using facts to forecast. With that said I have had to learn to control my anxiety, and boy did I have a lot of anxiety. I what if'd and why'd myself to death!! The key has been living in the present. Taking care of myself, enjoying my family and friends and just taking time to breath! Again it is all about YOU!!!

A friend of mine shared a story about hot chocolate and it really made so much sense about life and the way we look at it,enjoy this quick read:

THE HOT CHOCOLATE STORY

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups- porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

'Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...And then you began eyeing each others cups.

  

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The happiest people don't have the best of everything.. They just make the best of everything that they have. "The happiest people live in the present" I added that!!

The reason I wanted to share this story is because in our future thinking we are always trying to do what we think will make us feel good! And we totally overlook the present situation we are in and what makes us feel good now! And the moral of the the story is God has his own plan for us, we may not always understand it but we have to learn to let go and not question. Live for YOU !!!!

Living in the present allows us to do that! Do we still dream and set goals! Sure we do but you can not beat yourself up over the twists and turns that is LIFE!!

I wanted to share this with you today because I have lived and still live all of the above. I am human my brain and thoughts go crazy sometimes but I will continue to try to center myself and live in the present and enjoy all the wonderful gifts God has given me TODAY !!! I hope YOU can too!!!!!

Take Care,

Josie