Living in the Present

How many times do we hear people saying – we have to do this and this, plan this and that so that our future is secured? How many times do we hear sales pitch of promoters of businesses that claimed that they can help us plan and teach us to be financial independent in the future? How many times do we hear Insurance agents persuading us to buy endowment policies or some investment linked products so that we can cover the cost of our children’s education in the future?

I am sure both you and I have heard these talks about the future endlessly. But none actually mention about the present – the time that we are currently living in – the time that will just slip by if we think or plan too much into the future.

We are hardly reminded by the fact that the present will soon be the past and that we can never ever go back – trying to make the past right. Very few people will tell us to live today like there’s no tomorrow. Almost everyone is thinking of the future. Work hard and earn lots of money so that we don’t need to work when we retire. Never mind that we are not spending time with our children because they are supposed to understand that we are working for their future. Never mind that we postpone having children because we need to work hard now so that our future children can live comfortably. These are the current mindsets – thinking that there is time in the future to make up for lost time in the present.

In the meantime, what happened to our present – now? We work so hard for the future that we just don’t notice that time slips away quietly. Soon, 5, 10 or even 20 years go by, unnoticed. By then, the children would have grown up and no longer have any time to be with the parents because they need to also work hard for their children’s future. And these grown up children may say - since my parents never paid any attention to me when I was young because their work is always more important, why should I pay attention to my children or even them, my parents? It becomes a vicious cycle.

And for those couples who work so hard in the present so that they can build their family nests comfortably in the future, don’t they know that their biologically clocks do not stop for money? How do they know that when they are ready to have children, they can conceive?

We are always looking too much ahead, yearning for a better future, that we forget about the present – which is the most important and critical time at the moment.

The irony is that we never know whether we will ever get to see our “pre-determined” future. No one knows. Yet, time and time again, we allow ourselves to forget the present as we look forward for a brighter future.

I have stopped looking too far into the future because I know the future is actually not within my control. I don’t know what my future holds. I can plan. I can hope that Allah will make the future, that I want, becomes a reality. But, is the future that I want really good for me? I can never know and no one knows.

I have also stopped planning too much for the future because I realised that they may just remain as that – plans. Because I can plan as much as I want but I know that only Allah can make things really happen.

In the past, I have planned my future road maps like how old I want to get married, the number of children I want, the type of house I want to stay in, my career progression, my financial positions - but I realised that life never goes according plan. That’s the reality and beauty of life. It is filled with obstacles and challenges that we may never foresee.

I have learnt that living the current moment, without too much planning for the future is the best course to take in life. You will have less anxiety, less heartache, less disappointment and you will feel more content and at peace with yourself. I do plan once in a while but I always keep in mind that if it really happens, it is a bonus to me – a gift from Allah.

I believe that if we make a conscious effort to remind ourselves that we may not have any tomorrow and that today is the most important day of our life, we will be a better person. We will definitely put more efforts in our relationships with Allah and other people around us. We will constantly remember to give our best in every thing that we do, every minute of the 24 hours that we have.

And I believe that by doing so, we may actually carve out a better future for ourselves (Insya’allah) than if we were to just look forward into the future, making our endless plans, without any care for the present and for people who are currently living the present with us.