Balancing the Past with the Future

Concern for the future makes cowards of us and the burden of the past weighs us down.
~Munsi Premchand

Any sensible person must have some focus on the future so as not to sacrifice the long term for the now…just enough now so as not to sacrifice joy in the near term or the long term. Obsession with the future can lead to sacrificing all joy in the present, recklessly existing at the cost of health, at the cost of relationships (a fling today will shatter the foundational trust on which a marriage is built), at the cost of a lost or joyless future

Future gives meaning to the present. We invested our past present to reap the dividend of an education. We invest our time in exercise for longer-term health and extended life. We sow love and harvest a strong relationship and the joy of uncompromising love.

The past, no matter how heavy the burden, is a lesson for the now, teaching so we know what mistakes to not repeat. It is a springboard to maintaining joy in the now and sets a stage for joy in the future.