First, this seems a little funny that I am going to post today (the 14th) about being thankful for today, but using a future date. The hope is that when 11/18 becomes a date in the past, instead of a date in the future, the message still serves true and withstands the test of time. But...
I am thankful for today. I need to be thankful for today, every day. And sometimes that is hard. There are many things in a day that can go wrong, cause stress and pressure, or seemingly just exist.
But when I reflect on the times when I’ve been down, more often than not, I’ve been down either because of something that I’m not happy about in the past, or something that I’m hoping for in the future that may appear to be less-than-possible. And when those things happen, I lose sight on what is happening today, right in front of me.
The past can’t be changed. The facts, events, and circumstances of the past are set in stone, written in history. At best, the impact on what the past has on today can be changed, but that is a function of what you do, or how you think, today. What can I do today to feel better about that situation? Maybe it’s a change in perspective, or maybe it’s really just letting go. Either case, or whatever other actions are available, there is one common thread - are all actions to be taken TODAY.
The future can be changed, yes, but only by what you do TODAY. Cliché time: what you do TODAY can shape the future. The key word there is “do” – an action verb. The word inserted in that cliché is not wish, or think about, or worry about, its do. But there are so many facts, and events, and circumstances between now and then, between today and tomorrow, that the emphasis on what we do today has to be on TODAY.
None of us have time machines, as much as we might like one. And for the record, I don’t want one. Forget about potential rips in the space-time continuum, and forget about the grave responsibility we’d have if we went back in time to “back to the future quote”. First, there are some things about the past that I do not want to re-live. I’m sure we all have those episodes. Second, there are some things about the past that, though I may want to re-live them, would I really get the same enjoyment in an exact replica of a great past event? I don’t believe so. I think most moments, if they were to be exactly repeated, wouldn’t hold the same enjoyment the second, or third, or fourth, etc, time around.
But I also don’t want to go into the future either. I don’t want a speak peek into where I’ll be at some future point. What will be the point of all of the things that will happen between now and that point, if I know the end result now? I might as well skip over all of that and just get there. But let’s pretend for one moment that we can go into the future, and we like what we see, and do want to skip ahead to that. We’d bypass all of the things that would have occurred, good and bad. And of course it would be nice to skip the bad, but we’d have to skip the good. We can’t have it both ways, in keeping the good but skipping the bad. And I’m not one who wants to skip any good. Call me positive if you want, but that’s the hat I’m wearing. :)
For me, life is about the journey, the travels, the road trip, not the end point. The journey is about today. Where am I right now, TODAY, on this road trip called life?
This exercise in the “November – Month of Thanks” is about taking the theme of single day of thanks, and extending that for the 30 days within this month. It’s about taking each day, each today, and finding something to be thankful for. Shouldn’t that be extended to be every day of the year?
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