Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
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Today’s quote comes from Billy Connolly, a Scottish comedian, actor, musician and entertainer. He is famous for his observational humour, storytelling and distinctive style.
Billy Connolly once said…
“The future doesn’t exist and neither does the past. Worrying about it is a waste of time and effort.”
This one rings true to me. The past is gone and the future hasn’t happened yet. Neither of them exist in the present moment. The present moment is where all your control is.Worrying about the future is a waste of time. Worrying about an imaginary future by imagining events that haven’t happened yet. Rehearsing conversations that we may never have. Creating scenarios in our heads and reacting emotionally as if they are real.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan for the future. Planning and Worrying are two very different things. Planning says what can I do? Worrying says what if everything goes wrong?Worrying about the past is just as useless. Regret is simply trying to mentally rewrite something that already happened. We can learn from the past without trying to live there.
But reflecting on the past isn’t the same as regret. Reflection asks What can I learn from that? Regret asks Why didn’t I do something different? Reflecting on the past can change what the past means to you in the present. You can use the past to empower you to action in the present. And you can imagine an awesome future that is worth working hard for in the present.
Both the past and the future can serve you in the present instead of causing anxiety, fear and paralysis. Constant exposure to negative news can force you to imagine a future where everything is getting worse. Most movies portray the future as apocalyptic and horrible. It is easy to become cynical even though the reality is that there are so many good things happening in the world. If you focus on these great developments your world outlook improves.
So here is the question:
How much of your time are you actually going to spend living in the moment today? And how much are going to spend living in the past that can’t be changed or a future that hasn’t happened?Live in the moment. Reflect and Plan. But live now.
That’s going to do it for today. I’m Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I’ll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
