28th December 2020

By - Soumya Sri Vidhya, 11th Grade

What is it that often dominates our mind?  What creates unrest in our mind? What does not allow us to make focused effort? What impacts the efficiency and abilities in reaching the desired goal?

According to me, the uncontrolled thoughts about the past and future that travel across our mind constantly do not allow us to do what we plan to.

A) Thoughts of the Past: Often, most of us ponder about our past, which could be a combination of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. It is very common to see many people think about their glorious past or to have a dominant tendency to brood about their unpleasant past experiences in their lives. The more an individual keeps on thinking of their past without valuing the current moment, the more that person loses his control over achieving their current targets. Thereby, the resultant and repeated failures may lead to adverse effect on mental health i.e., a disturbed mind full of anxiety, fear, and depression and so on.

B) Thoughts of the Future:   Aspiring for future is good.  But, aspiration without meticulous planning & strict implementation of such plans, could be called as “building castles in the air”. As humans, we also have a tendency to think of our future constantly. Obviously, this may cause unwarranted thoughts of fear/anxiety/excitement.

It is not uncommon for many of us to revisit past experiences at varied junctures in our lives, or indulge in imagination, or be afraid of something, without any rationale. Depending on the intensity of such thoughts, it may lead to subconscious programming of the mind with unrealistic and negative thoughts, which will eventually lead to failure, or below par performance in a chosen field of activity.

How do we overcome the obstacle of thinking about past & future? 

We are humans and let us acknowledge that, we can neither change our past nor can we control our future.  However, it is important to realize the fact that our current moment is absolutely in our control .Hence, we can surely utilize them as much as we can to achieve our desired goals. Therefore, the POWER IS ALL NOW.

In a nutshell, we should unlearn the habit of repetitive thinking of our past & future. The driving force to achieve our goals would be to enjoy every moment by evincing complete interest & devotion in the activity that has been taken up.  Obviously, such undivided attention and focused efforts would ultimately lead to success. Every success would add up the confidence levels which might help in achieving new heights. Hence, it is very important to value and enjoy every moment of our life.