Choose life. Life is wonderful.

Sunday 30 December 2018

LIVING IN THE PRESENT

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
Henry David Thoreau


 With the new year approaching this quote seems worth considering. While we may make time to consider the year ahead it is always worth remembering that we live in the present. This is it. This is our one life now. There is no use thinking 'one day'...Time is limited.


According to Thoreau 'fools stand on the island of opportunities and look toward another land.' In other words we don't realise what we already have. We look 'toward another land' - towards another time in the future when more opportunities will arrive. But we need to seize the present.
 
This doesn't mean we don't plan for the future. In fact we plan now. We keep planning. Intelligent planning is one of the key proponents of productivity, no matter whether we are still in paid employment or not. 

But it is so easy to let life pass us by. For time to just slip by.

As we reflect at the end of the year and consider what we want to accomplish in the next year, we need to look realistically at what is possible. But we need to view the coming year with a 'glass half full' philosophy - appreciate the opportunities that exist for us and seize them. You never know what is going to happen tomorrow.

I realise that I write this for my own enlightenment. I find it so easy to drift through life. In a previous blog post I shared about the 3 times I really had to work to make changes to my life. I am hoping this year I can make a few changes. The main thing I want to achieve that is different this year is to embark on writing a more professional blog - or maybe two.

When Thoreau writes that we must find our 'eternity in each moment' he reminds me of the words of William Blake who wrote four beautiful lines that I love in the beginning of his poem Auguries of Innocence.

 To see the World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour 

It's all about seeing the beauty in what we have - in the small things - in the things that don't cost a lot, and making the most of every opportunity.




In my garden

I came across this green cicada in my garden and was really entranced. I think it had just metamorphosed from its original shell and was flapping around in my coriander seedlings. The black cicadas are most common around my place and I rarely see a green one, but Peter says the green ones were everywhere in Marrickville when he was growing up. 
The common name for this cicada is Green Grocer.

Green cicada in my garden



Green cicada in my garden


Movies at the Botanic Gardens

On Thursday evening, Peter and I went to the Sunset Cinema at Wollongong Botanic Gardens to see Bohemian Rhapsody, a movie based on the life of Freddy Mercury from Queen. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed the movie.



Before the movie



Bohemian Rapsody




Thank you

Many thanks to those who write comments and those who try. I really appreciate it. For some reason my blog will not allow some readers to leave comments. I will try and remedy this.



Interesting sites

1. Indonesia's first zero-waste restaurant

Photo source
This restaurant is built from recycled materials. Click here to read more.


2. Playing Tetris is good for anxiety 

Photo source
Good old Tetris has been found to help alleviate anxiety.  Click here to read more.



3. You won't be afraid of Australia's deadliest animals

Photo source
If you're really worried about Australia's deadliest animals, your best bet is to give horse riding a miss. Click here to read more.

2 comments:

  1. I sometimes feel like I'm wasting time because I'm not really doing anything important. However I realise that I'm really loving in the moment. I'm enjoying my family, my gardening and sewing when I'm home and I love spending lots of time with my husband when we are traveling. With both of us having terminal illnesses, the time we have together is precious. We may not be able to do this or that next year, so we do what we can now and let God take care of our tomorrows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think what you are doing is really important. You are making the most of every day

    ReplyDelete

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