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Our lives are often unnecessarily stressful because we fail to live in the moment. We worry about past mistakes and about what the future will bring. However, right now is all we have and we should focus on it and put all our energy into making it count.

Why we Should not Worry About the Past

The past is gone, it’s history. We cannot get it back. We cannot undo the mistakes we made, we cannot erase the pain and hurt we suffered. The best thing to do with the past is to let go of it.  Often we are so caught up in the past that we cannot appreciate the present. We worry about how what happened in the past will impact our lives to the extent that we miss present opportunities.

The truth is in most cases others, at least those that matter,  have forgotten about out past and we are the only ones obsessing about it. As long as we are stuck in the past, we cannot enjoy the present, so we need to leave our past in the past and get on with our lives.

Why we Should not Worry about the Future

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  Matt. 6:34

We anticipate the future but have no guarantee we will see it, yet we spend a lot of valuable time and energy worrying about it. In the above verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus admonished the multitude not to worry about the future because the future will take care of itself. Jesus also told them that each day has its own troubles so there is no need to borrow worries from the future. Earlier in the chapter Jesus alluded to the futility of worrying about the future by noting that no one can add a cubic to his statue by worrying. That has not changed, worrying is futile.

Yet that is what we do daily.  We worry about what will happen weeks from now, months from now, even years from now. My experience has been that often the things we worry about never happen. What a waste of energy!

Why we Should not Worry about the Present

We live one day at a time and if we learn to live in the moment we would not need to worry. Most of us have all that we need to get by today. We worry because our focus is on the past, which is gone and the future, which may never come. Worry causes us to be unable to maximize the present. Whether we’re supposed to be working, studying or even having fun, worrying will prevent us from engaging fully in what we’re supposed to be doing.

Worrying drains us of our energy, it immobilizes us and if we worry for long enough we can develop mental health issues such as depression. But how many times has worrying solved our problems? The answer is never. Worrying is a waste of our precious time, it is a useless emotion.

We need to stop worrying and instead focus on what we are supposed to be doing and do it to the best of our ability. That way, we are paving the way for a better tomorrow. The only time we have is now, let’s not waste it worrying about things that we cannot change. Let us live in the moment; because it is the only time that we live and the only time that we can make an impact.

Have a wonderful, worry-free week-end. I look forward to hearing from you, as always.