Planning for the future or living in the present moment?

My take on it.

My short answer would be that we need both; we need to plan for the future and we need to enjoy the moment.

Living in the moment

Living in the moment is not a spiritual practice or requires us to mediate all day. It is just consciously being aware of the small things that happen around you. Activate all the senses. It will calm the mind.

The biggest threat in modern-day life is dopamine through your phone, alcohol, television and unhealthy fast food. By being more conscious of everything around us, we will limit these desires.

The present is the only moment we have. Time is a man-made concept, it is unlikely that other creatures do not perceive time as we humans do. They do not know the future or the past.

Planning ahead

Planning the future was necessary to survive. We needed to store food in summer, so we had enough in winter. Planning ahead can help us live more in the moment later. If we plan to do groceries for the whole week at once, we do not have to think about it anymore later, and thus enjoy that moment more.

But most of us overdo it. We are told that we need to plan not only our next week, but our next month, and years or decades to come. Often planning a career or life is simply useless, given the number of unpredictabilities you are going to face. Having a fixed plan can actually give you more stress if the circumstances suddenly change.

Instead, you can better reflect and figure out what makes you sincerely curious or joyful. Pursuing more of that is often the best thing you can do in terms of future planning.

‘most blogs I write are answers to questions asked by close friends