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Never put off the things that are important for your well-being and satisfaction to a later time. Never put off happiness for the sake of achievement. Today is the day to live fully, not when you win the lottery or retire. Never put off living!
— Julian
I was reading a blog post today, and I came across someone's comment that really inspired me to write this article, and this was what the person said,
“Thank you! I am always living in the future. I will think of all negative scenarios that may come up in the future. It’s true. I don’t enjoy what I have now. Sometimes I wonder why I think so much. There may be fears of what’s coming up…getting a medical report..etc..I dwell so much in imagining the bad things that I get quite depressed. Living in the moment will help. But I guess I need the courage to face what’s coming up.”
I don’t know if you can relate to this person’s comment, but I do. I feel this way sometimes, and I’ve discovered that in our rapidly evolving, highly driven, and highly-strung culture, we are all unavoidable victims of time to some extent.
We are constantly torn between two worlds, the past and the future, neither of which exists.
We just find it difficult to enjoy the moment. Life seems to slip through our hands so quickly. We spend time not doing things that are meaningful to us because everything is done in such a hurry.
Time flies by so quickly and we’re dumbfounded because we don’t cherish our precious moments.
There’s a story I love so much that taught me a very important lesson about living in the present and it is the story of Peter and the Magic Thread.
Please allow me to share the story with you.
Peter and the Magic Thread
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In the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Julian shared a fairy tale of a boy named peter.
“Peter was a very lively little boy. Everyone loved him: his family, his teachers, and his friends. But peter did have one weakness. Peter could never live in the moment. He had not learned to enjoy the process of life.”
“When he was in school, he dreamed of being outside playing. When he was outside playing, he dreamed of his summer vacation. Peter constantly daydreamed, without taking time to savor the special moments that filled his days.
One morning, Peter was out walking in a forest near his home. Feeling tired, he decided to rest on a patch of grass and eventually dozed off. After a few minutes of deep sleep, he heard someone calling his name. ‘Peter! Peter!’ came the shrill voice from above.
As he slowly opened his eyes, he was startled to see a striking woman standing above him. She must have been over a hundred years old, and her snow-white hair dangled well below her shoulders like a matted blanket of wool. "In this woman’s wrinkled hand was a magical little ball with a hole in the center, and out of the hole dangled, a long golden thread.”
‘“Peter, ‘ she said, this is the thread of your life. If you pull the thread just a bit, an hour will pass in seconds. If you pull it a little harder, the whole day will pass in minutes. And if you pull it with all your might, months — even years — will pass by in days.’
Peter grew excited at this discovery. ‘I’d like to have it if I may?’ he asked. The elderly woman quickly reached down and gave the ball with the magic thread to the young boy.
The next day, Peter was sitting in the classroom feeling restless and bored. Suddenly, he remembered his new toy. As he pulled a little bit of the golden thread, he quickly found himself at home, playing in his garden.
Realizing the power of the magic thread, Peter soon grew tired of being a schoolboy and longed to be a teenager, with all the excitement that phase of life would bring. So again he pulled out the ball and pulled hard on the golden thread.
Suddenly, he was a teenager with a very pretty young girlfriend named Elise. But Peter still wasn’t content. He had never learned to explore every stage of his life. Instead, he dreamed of being an adult.
So again he pulled on the thread and many years whizzed by in an instant. Now he found that he had been transformed into a middle-aged adult. Elise was now his wife and Peter was surrounded by a houseful of kids.
But peter also noticed something else. His jet-black hair had started to turn grey and his once beautiful mother, who he loved so dearly, has grown old and frail. Still not satisfied, he pulled on the magic thread and waited for changes to appear.
Peter now found that he was a ninety-year-old man. His curly dark hair has turned white as snow and his beautiful wife Elise passed away a few years earlier. His awesome children have grown up to lead lives of their own. For the first time in his life, he realized that he had not taken the time to embrace the wonders of living.
He had never gone fishing with his kids or taken a midnight stroll with his beautiful wife, Elise. He had never read those wonderful books his mother had loved to read.
Peter became sad at this discovery. He decided to go out to the forest where he used to walk as a boy to clear his head and warm his spirit. As he entered the forest, he noticed that the little saplings of his childhood has grown into mighty oaks. The forest itself has matured into a paradise of nature.
He lay down on a small patch of grass and fell into a deep slumber. After only a minute, he heard someone calling out to him. ‘Peter! Peter!’ cried the voice. He looked in astonishment to see that it was none other than the old woman who had given him the ball with the magic golden thread many years earlier.
‘How have you enjoyed my special gift?’ she asked.
Peter was direct in his reply.
‘At first, it was fun but now I hate it. My whole life has passed before my eyes without giving me the chance to enjoy it. Sure, there would have been sad times as well as great times, but I haven’t had the chance to experience them either. I feel empty inside. I have missed the gift of living.’
‘You’re very ungrateful,’ said the old woman. ‘Still, I will give you one last wish.’
Peter thought for an instant and then answered hastily. ‘I’d like to go back to being a schoolboy and live my life over again. ‘He then returned to his deep sleep.’
Again he heard someone calling his name and opened his eyes. ‘Who could this be this time?’ he wondered. When he opened his eyes, he was delighted to see his mother standing by his bedside. She looked young, healthy, and radiant. Peter realized that the strange woman had indeed granted him his wish and he had returned to his former life.
‘Hurry up Peter. You sleep too much. Your dreams will make you late for school if you don’t get up right this minute,’ his mother advised.
Needless to say, Peter dashed out of bed this morning and began to live the way he had hoped. Peter went on to live a full life, one rich with many delights, joys, and triumphs, but it all started when he stopped sacrificing the present for the future and began to live in the moment.”
Like I said earlier, I got this story from the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. It is a must read for everyone who wants to get an insight to happy living.
