Forget the History. Ignore the Mystery. Enjoy the Pastry!

There is a timeless truth: yesterday is a cancelled cheque, tomorrow is a promissory note, and today is the only cash in hand. Life is not unfolding in yesterday. Nor is it waiting in tomorrow. Life is now. It is in the present, in today — in the minute, in the moment.

And yet, we often find ourselves in the past or in the future. Of course, we don’t physically travel to the past or the future. Our mind takes us there. It wanders into the past, replaying scenes that are long gone. What someone said, what went wrong, what could have been different. Days pass, months pass, years pass, and still, the mind holds on to yesterdays. We end up cursing, nursing and rehearsing our hurts instead of reversing them. Some people even carry stories from decades ago, as if reopening them will change the ending. But what is done is done. It can’t be undone. What is the point in dwelling in the past? In doing so, we even lose what is right in front of us.

Today is sweet like a pastry. But when we are so lost in history, we don’t enjoy it. We don’t even see it. The pastry sits there, waiting until it becomes stale. And then, it too becomes history. This is how life quietly slips away.

Then there is the other illusion — the mystery of tomorrow. The “what ifs,” the fears, the imagined problems that may never come. The mind creates scenarios, situations, builds anxiety, fear and traps us in a future that does not exist. Everything is a figment of our imagination. While we are busy worrying about what might happen tomorrow and the day after, we lose what we have. We lose the peace, bliss and joy of the present.

So why choose imagination over reality? Why live in a time that does not exist, while life is calling us here and now?

To live fully, we must let go of what has passed and stop chasing what has not arrived. The past is gone and the future is not yet born. The past cannot be undone. The future cannot be controlled. But this moment, the present can be experienced.

Those who understand this don’t complicate life. They don’t allow history to weigh them down or mystery to cloud their life. They return, again and again, to the present moment. And in doing so, they taste life as it is meant to be — joyous and fulfilling.

Every day offers a new pastry!

The question is not whether life is giving. The question is — are we present enough to receive it?


Will you let go of history…
Will you step out of mystery…
And will you finally enjoy the pastry?
Authored by: AiR – Atman in Ravi