Personal growth: Understanding the importance of “Now” May 7, 2018
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in personal development ideas.Tags: Abraham Lincoln, inspiration, life, living in the now, Movie Lincoln, personal development ideas, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, writing
add a comment
When President Abraham Lincoln was struggling along with his administration’s cabinet with the many critical problems facing the United States during the Civil War, Lincoln apparently had great difficulty getting his cabinet members to focus consistently on the present, on the “Now.”
As portrayed in the movie Lincoln, the President at one point became so frustrated with his cabinet’s bickering about future “what if’s” and past “if only’s” that he slammed his hand on the conference table and exclaimed:
“I can’t listen to any more of this…
Now!…Now! …Now!
See what is before you…
See the here and now. That’s the hardest thing…the only thing that accounts.”
The concept of Now can’t be said much better.
Here’s the link to the movie clip:
Personal growth mistake: Wanting the future to repeat the past October 24, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.Tags: life, living in the future, living in the now, personal development, personal development potential, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
add a comment
It’s natural to want any situational enjoyment with a high positive emotional component to last a long time, ideally forever. As a result, we may develop the habit of projecting our enjoyment of the present moment into anticipated pleasure of the same moment occurring in the future.
This makes full appreciation of the present difficult because our minds are straddling two separate time frames – current real-time reality and imagined future potential.
We can only be in the future mentally, a fact which obviously takes away some of our perception of the present moment.
We are attaching to our future, which can never be more than a thought pattern, the particular emotions of longing and anticipated nostalgia associated with the moment we are currently enjoying.
Any pleasurable experience in the present moment will be more intense and rewarding if we don’t impose on it the mental condition and constriction of future repeatability.
— Dennis Mellersh
Personal Development Ideas 