Forget About the Future . . .

​Are you someone who thinks a lot about where you are heading, what you will be become, who you will be with, where you will live . . . ?

I do. I think about this sort of stuff all the time. And there is nothing fundamentally wrong with gazing out in time, contemplating what life will bring you. Except, when you forget about where you are actually at right now.

I am in the middle of reading “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coello. Buy it and read it. It’s amazing, having sold over 30 million copies worldwide (at least that was at the time my copy was printed) and translated into 63 languages. The story charts the travels of an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns about listening to his heart and fulfilling his destiny. 

One of the lessons this shepherd boy learns along the way comes from a camel driver who relates some advice he receives from a fortune-teller which goes like this . . .

​“When people consult me, it’s not that I’m reading the future: I’m guessing at the future. The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens of the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”

​It’s a powerful message and made me physically sit up and think. About how my life sometimes feel as is though it’s passing me by, and that somehow it will all come together when I get to where I am headed.

And that’s my lesson for today. To make each day my eternity – to pay attention to what’s around me right now and to make of my life something special . . . one day at a time . . .