The right time

Sometimes it's good to think about the basics of our lives, about things so everyday-like that we consider them as obvious, free. Carefully peering into the depths of a man's life is always a fascinating experiment, and something which made me think of choosing faculties like Philosophy or Psychology at university.

Anyway, today I rediscovered the importance of Time. Time's a very complicated thing, which overcomes man with its incredibile power, indifference, inescapability. But we're used to name it in more easily manipulated bits: past, present, future. Since we live immersed in Time, we're quite apt at knowing when do we live; but in the same time, we're so easily taken in.

To the simple question "When do you live?", anyone would answer: "Now, in the present". But can we realize the importance and the innumerable meanings of such a sentence?

Present is our time, and present means all the people and things we are near to precisely now. Here's a question: are you doing your best with those you're near to, or are you "saving energy" for some other times, places, or people? Are you focused on the problems and joys of here and now, or are you living somewhere or somewhen else?
We must remember that it's in the present that we meet other people; it's in the present that our ability to be happy and to make people happy is tested; in the present and nowhere else.

What about past or future? They're too often overestimated, I fear.

Past can and should be a foundation for ourselves: something like a rock to rely on when difficult times come; experience which can help us to carry on our choices in everyday life. But it is no more. Past won't come back, and this is a very good thing, because it means that our past errors don't have the last word on us: we always have the power to choose (at least to choose how to consider the events of life); and that every moment of our life is worth living, since happiness is to be pursuited every moment.
We must watch out, since past can often be a trap; we can however break the trap by realizing what past really is: the result of our present till now - you can see its slavery to present.

Future is mostly diabolical: it is no more than a ghost, easily swept away by a single thought, vague, often more fiction-like than real. And yet, it brings fears for the morrow, freezing and clutching people with the power of dreaded failures, preventing them from doing their best in the present, in this way corrupting their past too. Sure, it can be a propellent for hope of change, but too often brings a distorted hope, an indefinite one, set in an indefinite future. Real hope nourishes itself of the actions of the present, otherwise it is dream, rather than hope.

Time's a very complicated thing and something very interesting to investigate on. It is therefore possibile that in some future I'll write something more about it. :)
Till then, remember: embrace present, the right time to live in!