Living in the present

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Studies have shown that a many of us when working on something, have our minds on something else rather than focusing on the task at hand.  No wonder many are not productive and many are not happy.  Happiness is dependent on living in the present, happy doing the job at hand, and not wishing doing something else or being in another place.

The key to getting things done is to slow down and focus on what is in front of you.  Expressions like ‘live in the moment’ or ‘carpe diem’ (seize the day) sound like clichés, yet science backs them up robustly that applying these principles makes a more satisfying work and life.  Being ambitious and having goals are of course essential. However, to actually achieve those goals to the best of our ability, we need to remain in the present. Being in the present allows us to find fulfillment in the moment, in the task at hand—rather than in some distant future, after we have achieved everything and ticked every task off our list. When we slow down and focus one hundred percent on the tasks we are working on or the people we are with, everything becomes joyful, even the mundane. That joy in turn leads us to perform better, be more productive, become charismatic, and build better relationships.

God wants us to focus on the present also as Christ would tell us in the Gospel of St. Matthew, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Mt 6:34) St. Josemaria Escriva would expound on this Gospel passage by saying, “Focus on the present and not on the future (which may not happen) or with your past (something that can’t be changed anymore).” Blessed Fulton Sheen said “Human beings are the only creatures that can bring the past to mind, so that it weighs on the present moment with its accumulated worries; and they can also bring the future into the present, so as to imagine its occurrences as happening now.”  No wonder many of us are anxious and stressed because we are overwhelming ourselves with the problems of the past, present and the future.  That’s a lot of problems to tackle.

The Israelites when they complained to Moses that they were starving in their journey towards the Promise Land were given manna by God that would appear every morning.  The manna given were much more than they could eat so the Israelites stored a number of them.  But they would get rotten the following day.  The spiritual lesson is that grace is only given every single day.  There is no grace for the future. Thus, worries about the future would be a waste of time because God can’t help us with problems that have not yet happened, or often times will never happen.  It would be a lack of faith in God to worry about the future, much like the Israelites lacking trust in God that food would be provided for them the next day.  “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans go after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  (Mt 6:31-33)