In the 1940s a psychologist by the name of Dr. William Moulton Marston, also known for creating the comic strip Wonder Woman, send questionnaires to 5 000 people. He asked them, “what did they live for?”.
He received 3 000 answers, 94% said they are waiting for something to happen in the future, thus not really living at all. Some waited for their children to grow up and to leave the house, others waited for the next year when everything would hopefully be better. They waited for their next vacation, for somebody to marry, even for somebody to die before they could be happy.
I wonder what the results would be today? Chances are that even more people would say they are only tolerating today, while they are waiting for something good to happen in the future.
People are waiting for circumstances or people to make them happy. They play the if only game while ignoring today. If you think about it, you only have the present tense. You only have now. Yesterday is gone. What’s passed is passed and tomorrow might never come. But you always have now…
To live in the now means you are present in every moment of your life. You don’t waste time complaining about things you can’t change. You accept life for what it is, change what you can and focus on your emotional reaction on circumstances, people and things out of your control. For the one thing you can always chance is your reaction. Your emotions. Your thoughts.
Don’t become part of the 94% who are wasting their lives away waiting for the perfect conditions, persons, or circumstances. Look at life as a gift to enjoy in the present tense. Do what you want to do now. Be in the now and remember you, and only, you are responsible for your own happiness!
