Now or Never, Part I: Today or Tomorrow?

Tomorrow Never Comes

It’s a choice that I make all the time.
When an uncomfortable task circles around me, I choose “tomorrow”.
When a pleasure entices me, I choose today.
Today is real.
Tomorrow is not.

The contrast between today and tomorrow is even clearer in children.
When my youngest child was a few years old, tomorrow was unreachable.

And, tomorrow could be good or bad.

If he wanted a toy, a present, or a trip, tomorrow was never, and that was intolerable.
If he didn’t want to do something, tomorrow was never, and that was wonderful.

I remember being a child, and the pleasant times seeming to disappear in a moment, while the school year would drag on and on.

I like to pretend that I’ve grown up, and like most people, I have, at least to a certain extent. 

The future seems more real to me now than it did as a child. 
It can scare me. It can excite me.
I can also dream of a dramatically different future, and a different me.

Planning for Today or Tomorrow

And, I can plan.
I have a goal. I want to be, do, or have something in 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 years.
I figure out the actions I need to take beforehand to make that happen. Then I make a plan that includes the actions I need to take, in what sequence, and approximately (or exactly) when.
No rocket science here.

Taking action is the hard part for most people.
That includes making a realistic plan, and carrying it out, even when today’s action just isn’t that exciting, and tomorrow’s goal feels a bit unreal.
And, all the while, there’s a voice inside of me, telling me that the internet, DVDs, or  something else would entertain me, without me doing anything uncomfortable!
Sigh.

If you do plan, do you look much beyond today? Do you plan for the future?
Or, do you get so caught up with today’s errands and problems, that you don’t seem to have any time or energy to think about tomorrow, and the day after that?

Ready to choose between today and tomorrow?
Focus on today’s challenges, and your tomorrow suffers.
Focus on long-term plans, and your today seems to fall apart.

The General and the Specific
Here’s another similar choice.

You and I face many challenges each day.  Do you focus on the detailed daily challenges, each one by itself, or do you apply your attention to the underlying problems or situations that give rise to groups of problems?
 
It’s the difference between treating the symptoms of the disease, and treating the disease itself.

Do I look at every fear I have, every burden I carry, every barrier within me that interferes with my growth?  Or, do I attempt to heal the broad issues within me that underlie and fuel the many fears, burdens, and barriers?

If you focus on every detailed fear or problem, one may disappear but it seems like another rises to take its place.  Why?  There’s an underlying issue that needs attention, and it gives birth to the details.  Ignore the main issue that some part of you needs solved, and that part of you will keep creating ways to get your conscious attention.  

And you’ll likely be so busy attacking every detailed problem that you won’t find the energy to look beyond the details for an underlying cause.

It’s similar to the choice between today and tomorrow. 

If you are completely focused on today’s problems, it’s likely that you’ll have similar problems to deal with every day.  And you’ll spend all your time focused on today’s “emergencies”.

Find the underlying issues that cause the endless emergencies, and you can make them disappear.  But to do this, you have to stay focused on tomorrow. You have to look beyond the needs of the moment.

It’s not a simple choice. Our fears, burdens, and barriers, like the daily problems we face, are more out in the open where we can “see” them and deal with them, while the underlying issues may be deeply hidden.

And do you let your daily life full apart while you devote all your attention to the “big picture”?

What do you do about it?  Read Now or Never, Part II: Today and Tomorrow