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TO DEVELOP a positive mental attitude we need to learn to live in the present.
That means not spending time dwelling on the past or the future.
If we do today’s task well (which includes planning for the future), tomorrow’s tasks will take care of themselves.
So it’s good to focus every bit of our attention on whatever we are doing now, and to try to do it well.
What has happened in the past cannot be changed.
I try not to think about the future, either, which is mostly about what ifs.
I try not to think about how I would feel if some possible future event did or did not happen.
Most of the time, when I have considered what if? the future I imagined didn’t happen and things panned out quite differently.
Living in the present makes it more difficult to blame others, or to bear grudges.
Both of these relate to what has happened in the past, not now.
Dwelling on blame and harbouring grudges can cause us to spend time thinking about the event that caused the grudge or blame.
If we spend even one minute doing this, we are not living in the present moment.
So one way to live in the moment more is to accept our current situation.
Whether we like it or not, we have to accept it.
We can make some changes which might alter the future, but they will not change the situation at this moment in time.
Geoff Peck writes for Woosehill Church, which meets on Sundays at 10am.
For information, visit: woosehillchurch.org
