Sunday 26 August 2012

The Past, The Present, The Future And The Problem

the past the present the future
Don't worry, I am not going to write about the grammatical problem in the past tense, present tense and future tense. Following strictly to the theme of my blog, I am going to write about how we should live our life in relation to the past, the present and the future.

If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you will know that my motto of living an happier life are:
1. We can't fully control the external factors but we can always control our reaction towards the incident/issue.
2. True believer of living in the moment as past is history and future might never come.
3. There are always 2 sides of the story, so, why don't look at the bright/positive side?

Actually, this post was inspired by one of the article I read, entitled "Living In The Here And Now" that was published in the "60something" column on Saturday's (25/08/2012) The Straits Times (Singapore) [Author : Richard Lim]. It was an interesting yet meaningful article that will set the  readers pondering on how to live a better life.

There are a number of thoughts, quotes and anecdote which are relevant to the theme of my blog and thus like to share it here (extracted from the article):

"Letting go is about no clinging - and it can be a person, an idea, an object or in the Zen context, the grasping ego"

"We are so busy reliving our yesterday and trying to live our tomorrows that we miss living today" 

Following is an anecdote that I read sometime back and I loved it, I guess the author too: 
Two monks, one a senior and the other a junior, were walking along a narrow mountain path when they came to a muddy puddle. Across the puddle was a young women who was stranded because to step across it was to have her new ankle-length clothes soiled.

'Could you help me?' she asked the monks.

The senior monk strode across the puddle, lifted the women and carried her across to the other side. After he had let her down, she thanked him and went on her way.

The two monks too went on their way. But the junior one seemed disturbed. He could not shake off what was on his mind and after walking for about a mile, he finally blurted to his senior 'I thought we monks are not supposed to touch a women's body. But you did with that woman earlier'.

The latter said 'I let her down a mile back. Why are you still carrying her?' 

monk
The illustration of the story. Loved it!
Hope you like my sharing and let's living in the here and now!

Cheers!

2 comments:

  1. I've always loved that Zen story. Don't carry the past around with you; leave it behind.

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    Replies
    1. Hi nothingprofound,

      Thanks for dropping by! Yup, it sure is a great Zen story!

      Cheers!

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