LIVE IN THE NOW

    Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other
plans.
       
                            John Lennon (1940 - 1980), "Beautiful Boy"

      Live in the now.  It sounds like such a simple thing, doesn't it. But what does it really mean?  Do you live in the now?

    Actually, the now is the only place in which you can live, but some folks spend endless hours dwelling on the past and worrying about the future.  They don't appear to really live in the now, in the present moment.

    There's nothing wrong with reliving pleasant memories or learning lessons from the past, and planning for the future is a wise endeavor and can be very beneficial.

    But hanging on to unpleasant memories, allowing the tapes to play over and over in the mind, dwelling on past failures so they negatively impact the now and not getting beyond past mental and physical assaults can leave you doubting yourself and suffering endlessly over things that no longer exist.

    Fretting about things that could happen in the future, expecting the worst and anticipating doom and gloom can paralyze you into not enjoying the present.

    Many people who end up as patients in the ER have trouble letting go of the past and worry too much about the future. They are often on tranquilizers and antidepressants to help numb the effects of the past/future treadmill.

    An excellent book (much healthier and more effective than taking pills) is "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.  If you are not living in the now this book will help enormously.

    So take a lesson from small children, dogs, horses, other animals and plants.  They all seem to instinctively understand that now is the only time that is real.

Marlene Buckler, MD, FACEP     www.StayOutOfMyER.com