Compartmentalize Your Thoughts For The Present Moment!

“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”
― Albert Camus

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of”. – Jim Rohn

There is a reason a windshield is much bigger than the rear view mirror. The focus should be on your goal and not what happened in the past. Sitting in the present we deflect the beauty all around us, and dwell in depressive thinking of failures of the past. Our zest for life vanishes, and who is to blame?
We sit in the present moment again but our thoughts reside in the future, producing anxiety that crushes our spirits and our potential for greatness. Lack of trust and faith keeps us stuck in contemplation, attempting to rewrite our pasts with our current upgraded knowledge of today. The imbalance of insight always leaves for self-judgment to wave its shinny sword.
Stop where you stand and look around you. Are your thoughts congruent with the world around you, or have you suppressed the beauty around you to dwell in thought?

In One Moment
I sit and contemplate notes for this post and I take one moment to analyze the world around me. I take just one minute to devote myself to the only thing that really matters, the now.
A middle-aged man carefully crosses the road navigating the street as cars surge by him. The sunlight pierces through the windshield and illuminates the whole car that I sit in. The hairs on my arm slowly dance in response to the ice-cold air circulating through the cabin, and a friend is speaking in a humorous tone to his beloved partner. I look to my right and see a lady in a store smiling while making payment for her new purchase. Other customers mingle between each other in a subtle flow through the tight aisles. My lungs capture oxygen from one unaided breath and fuel my organs with life just for that perfect moment, and all I can do is sit in marvel at the loud acoustics pounding through the care stereo, vibration my ear drums in an aggressive manner.

Thoughts Enter
But wait, my active mind chimes in once again and attempts to pull me from that precious awareness. It pulls me back to an ever-evolving fear that the ego just won’t let go of. My head says, “prepare yourself for battle” and my hearts sinks in fearful anticipation of pain. Having spent such detailed time and energy neglecting the present moment, my ego resists the temptation to just let it go.
My wondering thoughts hold me hostage from the beauty around me and I sufferer again. I’ve allowed my ego-driven fears to navigate me through the world unconnected, attempting to protect myself from the realities of life. I question myself if I will be capable of handling the curve balls in life, “will I be ready?” The reality is I have been treading the unpredictable waters of life for years and will do so for years to come.

But the doubt, where does it come from?
It grew from an internal self-critic who values perfectionism over peace, latching on to fears of failure and the strategies I must employ uphold my faultless persona.
The consequence of living in the future or past is that the pain is not deflected and allocated to be those specific moments but is felted in the now. I crave habit change and mindset adjustment with desperation, but none of these advancements can take place by changing the past or orchestrating strategies for the future. Every ounce of awareness needs to be where my reactions take place, and that is the present moment, only and always.