Living
the
Now
good things
come
to those who wait
FEBRUARY 28 2018
#23LIVINGTHENOW Living the NOW The days of taking photos on cameras and getting super excited about developing and printing them are over. I remember when I was younger, cameras would pop out of the handbag at the appropriate time and we would take photographs on holidays and at gatherings or celebrations. We would then wait in anticipation to have them developed. It was always so exciting to pick them up a week later to see how they turned out. There was no delete button, so if you frowned, had a grumpy face, looked the other way or was unfortunate enough to have the red eyes, the photograph would make it into the family album regardless. Gone are those days. Today, we live in a ‘now’ culture where, in most cases, we get things instantly – including our photographs and it seems to be true that we are getting worse at waiting for things. This immediate satisfaction has made us a little bit spoilt, but on the positive side, a whole lot more efficient. And of-course with innovation we will continue to evolve, change and become more productive and efficient. Look back at all the wonderful inventions and tools that have made us more connected and efficient. Isn’t that a good thing? We have instant access to people and information all over the world, literally at our fingertips, allowing us to work in the now. If you didn’t want to, you don’t even have to leave your home for ANYTHING. Having it now with instant gratification has also made us adapt and become flexible to change and grow. It provides the time to really decide how we want to live and where the future will take us. Having it now has become a big part of our lives - perhaps the only part of our lives, which continues to condition us to want it all, right now. BUT, let’s not forget the power of delayed gratification. Waiting is an essential element to bring fullness and gratefulness into our lives. I didn’t grow up and wasn’t educated during the digital age. Part of a way of life for me was the anticipation of waiting and getting excited about things. I certainly do look back and believe that waiting to reach your ultimate goals does have benefits. Whether it be saving now to spend on something later, choosing health for vitality, or putting up with the many jobs I have had along the way to help boost my career and position later down the track. You may have heard the saying slowly, slowly catch a monkey….well now, I truly resonate with this one. Knowing when to wait and not take short cuts, simply takes some thinking, planning and common sense. (Read: Good Life Habits). Be mindful of what is important to you and what is not. Will the thing you want right now be important tomorrow? This is key in the ability to make the right choices.
WAITING FOR THINGS IN LIFE WILL; • Help you appreciate good and meaningful relationships. • Provide the satisfaction of rewarding yourself. • Take you to where you want to go. • Help you understand and learn patience. • Provide excitement and anticipation in your life. • Help you feel and experience value. • Teach you to live with a sense of good things to come and when they do come – it’s great. Because of instant fulfilment and gratification, so many of us have accepted a life that is not to our liking, a life which includes too many things causing us too much trouble – even to the point where we don’t know how to manage it all. My advice is; don’t be led down the path of wanting everything right now. Practice some planning and work out what things are worth waiting for, especially the important things. This will help you engage with your life, develop work ethic, live deliberately and work out who you want to be. You will be the beneficiary of this choice. Otherwise, you could be the result of racking up huge debts and risk becoming spoilt and dissatisfied in the future. Good things really do come to those who wait! Take the steps to make sure you don’t become a victim of false realisation that everything in life is instant and easy. Embrace all the good stuff in the now and free up your time to become more efficient. These efficiencies will leave you with more time to encourage you to be the most innovative and creative you can be – so what are you doing with all that spare time? (Read: Motivate Me). juliefurlongnotes.com