LIVE IN THE MOMENT

Two of the most common undesirable psychological states of the present times are regrets from the past and anxieties about the future. These mental states are largely controlled by the subconscious. It is a cyclic pattern that keeps on arising one after another and has significant impact on mental and by extension physical health. The outcome of these mental issues are the two emotions of guilt and fear. Guilt for blaming oneself for what could not happen in the past and fear due to anxieties about the future. Essentially, the answer to both of these undesirable emotional states lie in reorienting the thought pattern. See the fallacy of human thinking. Guilt over regrets from the past arises out of the known. Fear due to anxieties arise out of the unknown. This is strange but true. There are undesirable thoughts for both — known and the unknown. What is the reason for this? Why both the known and the unknown keep on troubling the human thinking? Well, that is the basic human nature.

Cravings for what could not be attained and fear for what would not be attained are two sides of the same coin. They are products of the ego that is always restive. Finding out quick fix solutions may not be of any great use, given the unstable nature of the ego that is a bundle of desires. There is nothing inherently wrong with the desires. They are natural and spontaneous, arising due to sensory stimulation. It may be argued that not all desires owe their origin to sensory inputs impinging on the human persona through the various sense organs as human fantasies are also there. But it must be remembered that even those imaginary expectations and beliefs are also manifestations of the sensory inputs. The point, however, is how to get out of the cycle of desires arising out of whatever sources? Is there a way out? The answer is yes. But it requires some kind of a mind control that needs regular training. There is a step by step process for this. The first step is to understand the nature of desire. Why did it arise in the first place? Is it reasonable or fantastic? The fact is that most of the desires are unreasonable. Judging the nature is the trick. The solution lies in looking inwards to know one-self. This is self-awareness which is the first but most important step as the success of other steps are contingent on this.

Self-awareness requires honest focusing on one’s inner self, the strengths, the abilities, the requirements. Through self-awareness, one can realise whether the desire is realistic or unrealistic. The second step is to move ahead and reject the unrealistic desires. Often people get so desperate that they are not able to reject the unrealistic desires, leading to frustration and attendant undesirable emotions. One simple way to tackle this is to delay the gratification. Just push the undesirable to the other day. Gradually, this will help in eliminating the unrealistic desires. Once this is achieved one is left with realistic desires. The attainable ones that can be achieved by reasonable efforts. If the mind can be trained to think in this fashion, the guilt and regrets of the past and fear and anxieties of the future will disappear. One needs to think that past is history and future is mystery. Live in the moment, to the best of your capacity.