Living in the Present

I know I should be doing my homework. I know. But I can't get something off my mind. Something just hit me - I mean, wow - BAM! Didn't see that coming.

Welcome to the front row of my life for the next 5 minutes.

We really don't have any control, do we? I mean, life is continually changing - all we can do is attempt to go with the flow, right?

So much of me would love to go back to some of the good times. I didn't really think like this a whole lot before, but recently, yes, I will be the first to admit that the thoughts have passed through my mind. I know that things needed to happen. I know that what has happened has been difficult, but good. But to realize that life will never be like it was, even yesterday. It really put things into perspective for me.

You can never live yesterday again - no, not even today. You can replay all of last semester's happenings in your mind over and over again, but no matter how much you think about it, you can't go back. You can't go back to where your relationships used to be, and you can't change the events of the past. You can smile at the past, but then again, what good does that do you? It's nice to not have some regrets over certain times, but why bother focusing on that which cannot change?

Yes, the past is very important - but how much more important is the future? And then again, the present is overlooked entirely. So much emphasis is placed on what happened in the past and how to stop that from happening in the future. But what about the present? What about what is happening right now in life? I find myself always relinquishing the past and planning the future, that sometimes I forget to live life . . . right now! Why not live in light of the day, the hour, the moment rather than 3 months ago and five years from now?

These are such obvious questions - how do the obvious parts of life escape me so?

Here's a great quote. Don't know who said it, but whoever it was, he certainly had his head on straight:

"Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop trying to figure out precisely how we feel, stop deciding with our mind what we want our heart to feel . . . sometimes we have to go with 'whatever happens, happens.'"