Live For Today

Summary:

"We're here for a good time
Not a long time
So have a good time
The sun can't shine everyday"

Wise words from 1970's rock band Trooper.

Article:

Zen Master's go even further than living just for today. Their wisdom teaches to live in the present moment, in the right now. What time is it? Answer, right now.

As soon as the question is asked, the answer is wrong. Several seconds have passed and the time is already different, it is now. Watch the second hand on your watch--as soon as you notice the time it is already the next second, so it can only be now.

And why should we live in the present moment, because we never know when life might blindside us.

An old Jewish proverb, 'want to make God laugh, make plans'.

No matter how well you may try to keep your life perfectly organized and planned you will get blindsided. You are just going along doing your thing and wham, an event that completely changes everything--life suddenly smacks you up the side of the head.

And that's the thing, it could be absolutely anything. Mother Nature might come knocking with an earthquake or a hurricane, or a cyclone, or a--on and on, the possibilities seem endless.

Disease--cancer, heart attack, Alzheimer's, another seemingly endless list. And it may not hit you directly, it could be someone near to you--sometimes that pain can be stronger than having the disease yourself.

Talk to anyone who has had a near death experience or suffered for years with a dangerous sickness and beat it, they know, that shock of certain death is a wakeup call. They will tell you to live for today.
Then there is the human element, society. This is probably the most dangerous element because the slap will come from the stupidity of mankind. How many lives have been lost, and are being lost because of man's need to be right about something or other.

Religious wars, territorial wars, money wars--greed is a big one--"it's mine no it's mine…"

Get in your car, on a plane, even a train, or go for a walk in the park after dark (no one is that stupid, are they?) and you just don't know what can happen, yet another endless list of potentials.

Back to manmade wars--those unfortunate heroes who come home maimed, now that is suffering--blindsided by the acts of power hungry zealots and politicians.

Ben and Dorothy had had some bad breaks in life. An entrepreneur Ben lost everything in his late fifties, from wealth to poverty seemingly overnight. It didn't stop there however. Ben had a breakdown and fell into a deep depression. There was no money for drugs so he suffered.

Several years later Dorothy, still in her fifties had a heart attack and double bypass surgery, only to be felled again by someone's dirty hands during the surgery, she had to be operated on again because of a super bug--it almost killed her, the recovery was long, and did not help Ben's state of mind at all.

They made the best of what they could and Ben pressed on trying to bounce back financially, but alas, everything seemed to go sour, even their son abandoned them over money.

They struggled on, Ben got on some anti-depressants--they started to get a few dollars coming in and then in her early sixties Dorothy started acting peculiar, forgetfulness, lack of initiative, unemotional and several other symptoms.

Dorothy's doctor put her through a series of tests, a neurologist was called in and the prognosis, Frontal Lobe Dementia. A rare disease with no known cause and no known cure, her memory is failing and the outlook is not bright, especially for Ben, Dorothy has no real concept of what is wrong with her. Blindsided more than once, a true story.

There are millions of such stories in the naked city, so…

Live for today, or better still, live in the present moment. Those Zen dudes are really smart.

Author:

Joseph N. Kolton is a seasoned entrepreneur, author, humorist, closet philosopher and the founder of myPhotoLottery.com and PhotoBrainiac.com. For fun visit http://www.myphotolottery.com/couples.html

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