Sounds like the beginning of a fantastic movie? Lol yeah, our life is an adventure… Sometimes we have a nostalgic mood and recall different moments from the past. In unhealthy cases, it could cause extreme pain when we think of how it was good with some person whom we can’t be in the now with. Or if we can’t do things we used to do and be happy. Or if we only think of what we want to achieve and struggling, don’t allow ourselves certain things thinking that we will enjoy life someday in the future… Does it sound familiar? Ask yourself – are you living in reality?
The truth about living in reality
The truth is that everyone during life has such thoughts about the past and the future which can hurt us now, make us sad, angry or even live in depression. This is what I call traveling in time. You could say that we can’t pretend that we didn’t have a particular moment in the past so we can’t not to think about the past. Yes, the past made us who we are today. But every time you think about the past event, stop the moment and ask yourself – does this memory cause you pain? Does the thought or worry about the future prevent you from being happy today?
Why do these thoughts cause us pain?
The thing is that when we think that we lost something or someone in the past or we can’t return it now, when we recall the past memories, we feel regret. It is an attachment to things that do not already exist anymore. We liked the feeling we had before. And if we think that we will be happy when we will earn enough money, we will get a dream job, will find a perfect partner, etc and now it’s a middle stage in life – it’s a phantom. You want things which do not exist yet and you can’t even know if they will take place at all. And not because you don’t deserve them, but because life is unpredictable. Things can change in a single moment and you can’t control life. This is also an attachment to a thought, to things that don’t exist yet.
Attachments hurt
So what are attachments? When we feel attached to things or people, feel bad without them and can’t let them go – these are attachments. And in reality, this is nothing like love. Love never hurts. This is the main difference between attachment and love. Why do we feel attachments? Because of fears, insecurities, anxieties. What can we do about that? First, we need to realize that what we feel is an attachment and learn to let it go.
Living in reality
Only if we will realize and really accept that the past can’t hurt because it doesn’t exist now and future too, we will start noticing the present moment. No matter what has happened in the past, life is today. And this is the moment we need to enjoy it because the future isn’t guaranteed. it’s good to dream to achieve more but only if you can enjoy each step you make to your dreams. The best moment in your life is the one, you are living right now. Because the past moments don’t exist anymore and all you have is now. Accepting this you make yourself living in reality and this realization makes you free and happy. The source of inspiration for this topic is an incredible book written by Eckhart Tolle “The Power of Now”
