Living For The Past

How many times have we heard someone say “Don't worry about tomorrow, just live for the moment”? I know I've heard it more than once during six of the seven different decades I've been on Earth, and quite often over the last ten years or so. It sounds profound, doesn't it?

Too bad it's a crock. There are many reasons why this is so and why we should stop listening to this nonsense.

Most lifestyle “gurus” have sold us on the idea of living for the moment — that right now is all that exists — and that we should only do that which makes us feel good.

Although this advice is alluring and justifying, it often fails to produce desirable results in the real world. Actually, in many cases, it ruins people’s lives.

Living for the moment is the reason people leave marriages, lose control over their health, and why America is trillions of dollars in debt.

Does the above sound a little over the top? At first glance it might. But when you think about it, particularly that first sentence, you come to realize there's a lot of truth there. There's nothing with living in the moment, but only if you apply all you have (hopefully) learned and understand that the trope of “ only do that which makes us feel good” is a trap, and is an insidious trap at that. As the linked post states, much of that 'feel good' crap is what has whittled away at our morals and ethics, diminished the concept of self-control, and has fooled many people into believing the “living in the moment, feel-good” meme also implies that there are no consequences for doing so. Too bad for them and the rest of us that they're tragically wrong.

Unless “living in the moment, feel-good” is reined in with some heavy caveats, we should strive to show those who believe it that it is trap, one they will not realize they have sprung until it's too late.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.