Living for today, living in the present moment, is to live for meaning and joy with a focus on the now, rather than the present or the future. In some life philosophies, living for the moment is destructive, devoid of learning from history and planning for the future, living without understanding the consequences. In other life philosophies, it is to transcend worry and old pain, to build memories and experiences that will become positive memories, to be free of destructive ties to the past or expectations and “shoulds” of the future.
Each time you focus on your breath, each time you relax and listen to your feelings, you open yourself to the present.
Do not worry about tomorrow’s trouble, for you do not know what the day may bring. Tomorrow may come and you will be no more, and so you will have worried about a world that is not yours!
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.
We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it’s all we’ll need
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.
Days are scrolls; write on them what you want to be remembered.
Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.
I live one day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning, I say: ‘What is my exciting thing for today?’ Then, I do the day. Don’t ask me about tomorrow.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.
The present moment is significant, not as the bridge between past and future, but by reason of its contents — contents which can fill our emptiness and become ours, if we are capable of receiving them.
Do not look back. And do not dream about the future, either. It will neither give you back the past, nor satisfy your other daydreams. Your duty, your reward—your destiny—are here and now.
Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.
Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.
I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness — and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I’m a human trying to make it through in this world.
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
For lack of attention a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.
Everyone looks upon the world from a different angle. Every person becomes individualized through dealing with life. In the workshop of daily living the soul is born. The daily tasks is the anvil on which one must beat out one’s selfhood.
Take each day as you find it,
If things go wrong, don’t mind it,
For each day leaves behind it
A chance to start anew.
Artists do not experiment. Experiment is what scientists do; they initiate an operation of unknown factors to be instructed by its results. An artist puts down what he knows and at every moment it is what he knows at that moment.
You better live your best and act your best and think your best today; for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.
I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn’t know, I held opportunity.
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
Do not look back on happiness or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated out of it.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.
