As I gazed up at the Bay Bridge in San Francisco yesterday, while the weather was 62 and sunny and absolutely magnificent, I couldn't help being a little philosophical about the topic of this posting. Let me take you through my thought progression here and then I will make try to make my larger point. We all have been taught by our parents, friends and even colleagues at our jobs to think about the future and the plan ahead. That could relate to our 10 year plans for work or a retirement plan or planning to have a family. We see our politicians speak the same way with regards to balancing the budget or fixing a program like social security (I have a 5 year plan etc etc). Plans are great, wonderful and amazing things that should be recognized, cherished and applauded for their vision and forward thinking, but.....a lot of my blog discusses looking forward and making big plans to solve issues we face, but I couldn't help think of the following yesterday....
Living in the moment is not such a narrow concept that I always thought it was. I thought it was easier to think forward and the to say "watching that sunset is nice, but imagine when we own a house here in 10 years and watch that sunset every night". I think that thought above is amazing in both the moment and forward sense, but I know my mind always focused in the forward and forgot how special the present is. Living in the moment could mean to some people being irresponsible or acting out something that could hurt you in the future. That is not what we are discussing here although it is interesting that our political leaders often act like they ONLY live the the moment with certain irresponsible spending or other policy decisions (that will have to wait for another posting).
Sometimes it takes an event or a very special person to come into your life to make you look at things differently. This is not meant to be a life lesson, but purely something that I hope shows my readers that my views may lean a certain direction, but my mind is open to change and thought evolution.
I think we all should cherish that sunset or embrace that dinner with friends or breath deep and suck in that fresh air while overlooking the ocean or like me yesterday enjoying that sun as is it glistened off the bay, but understand that your can live in that moment and ALSO plan and look forward. I am learning that now and it is making me a better person and hopefully a writer for this blog.
My goal with this blog is to have a discussion with my readers about large issues that impact us and come up with practical solutions for these problems, but since I was on vacation, I thought it was important to share how my thought process is constantly evolving.....
Good morning east coast......and have a great day!!!