Sep 6, 2014

Quote of the day

"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."
-Lao Tzu
If you think about this, you will realize why this is true. See, when you are depressed, you are likely thinking about something that happened in the past. It may have happened just seconds ago, it may have happened years ago. But the point is, you are thinking about the past and are feeling depressed about something you have done. Thinking about the past doesn't always mean you are depressed. But when you are depressed, it is usually because of the past. If you are anxious, you are probably thinking about the future. If you are a student at school, you may be anxious because perhaps you have four tests, three quizzes, two papers and one project due in the next week. That would be quite a few things, and being anxious is understandable. Anxiety, as the dictionary puts it, is "a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome." Like the dictionary says, usually you are anxious because of something that makes you uncomfortable is approaching, or something that you don't quite know what will happen is going to happen. But when you are in a state of perfect peace, you are living in the present. You aren't clinging to the past, you aren't worrying about the future. You are living each moment as it happens, seeing what will happen in those moments. You are letting life take you along in a sweet and gentle river that only flows forward. The river may have some rocks in it, but once you get past them it's once again smooth and quiet. While you are on this river, you focus only on the part of the river you are on at that moment; watching only what's around you to look at. You aren't trying to glimpse ahead to see where the river will take you, and you aren't looking back on the part you've already past. You are living in the present, and you are at peace.

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