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Tolstoy, 1885: - Most important time is now; - Most important people are the ones you're with; - Most important task is helping them. __ Lots of people focu

Tolstoy, 1885: - Most important time is now; - Most important people are the ones you're with; - Most important task is helping them. __ Lots of people focus way, way too much on a past the may have never been, or at the least, will never change - and a future that may never be, or will feel different when it finally arrives as reality.

curun1r 10y ago
Tolstoy was hardly the first to say something like that. The Buddha said roughly the same thing ~24 centuries earlier. Sage advice no matter who it's from.
- saycheese 10y ago
  Curious, what specific source are you referencing? I've restated Tolstoy's words from his short story, "The Three Questions."
  - curun1r 10y ago
    Right mindfulness is part of the noble eightfold path in Buddhism. A somewhat oversimplified view of that teaching is an extreme focus on the current moment or task.
- learc83 10y ago
  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34
andyidsinga 10y ago
> - Most important time is now; I've been thinking about this occasionally -- it never quite sat right with me. Then, recently on a podcast (I think it was Marc Maron, can't remember the guest) they were talking about this, but suggested instead of living in the now, one should ONLY live in both the past and the future -- "those who suffer from dementia and similar diseases live in-the-now and its terrible". In a certain sense the past and future are all we have to interact about as now can be pretty illusive. So, with that in mind, the question becomes how to make it constructive and interesting.
- saycheese 10y ago
  Sounds like something someone would say that has no idea what dementia is; feels comparable to saying a savant is a genius. Being in the present is a skill that is learned, not a disorder.
  - rdiddly 10y ago
    Since children have it, I don't think it's a learned skill. But I think the bad habits of drifting off to another illusory time are learned, and then have to be unlearned.
    - saycheese 10y ago
      Children have "it" - what is it? Being in the present and focused on it are not the same. It is like saying, "Sure, I able to walk alone at night through a bad area" - and actually being aware of your surrounding and adapting to the situation.
    - hinkley 10y ago
      when the child is doing fine, they get to live in the moment, and are often left alone to do what they are doing. When we don't like what they're up to we often talk to them about 'not yet' or 'not anymore' and time becomes something they have to contend with. And then we start doing fucked up things like asking five year olds what they want to be when they grow up. How much pressure is that? they don't even know what grown up is yet, except that people stop telling you what to do all day (oh, if only they knew, they would never grow up)
      - kahrkunne 10y ago
        >How much pressure is that? From my experience of having been a kid, none. It was always exciting to think about being an adult, and it's not like your answer meant anything - I'm not on track to be becoming an astronaut after all
      - Broken_Hippo 10y ago

curun1r 10y ago

Tolstoy was hardly the first to say something like that. The Buddha said roughly the same thing ~24 centuries earlier. Sage advice no matter who it's from.

saycheese 10y ago
Curious, what specific source are you referencing? I've restated Tolstoy's words from his short story, "The Three Questions."
- curun1r 10y ago
  Right mindfulness is part of the noble eightfold path in Buddhism. A somewhat oversimplified view of that teaching is an extreme focus on the current moment or task.
learc83 10y ago
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34

andyidsinga 10y ago

> - Most important time is now; I've been thinking about this occasionally -- it never quite sat right with me. Then, recently on a podcast (I think it was Marc Maron, can't remember the guest) they were talking about this, but suggested instead of living in the now, one should ONLY live in both the past and the future -- "those who suffer from dementia and similar diseases live in-the-now and its terrible". In a certain sense the past and future are all we have to interact about as now can be pretty illusive. So, with that in mind, the question becomes how to make it constructive and interesting.

saycheese 10y ago
Sounds like something someone would say that has no idea what dementia is; feels comparable to saying a savant is a genius. Being in the present is a skill that is learned, not a disorder.
- rdiddly 10y ago
  Since children have it, I don't think it's a learned skill. But I think the bad habits of drifting off to another illusory time are learned, and then have to be unlearned.
  - saycheese 10y ago
    Children have "it" - what is it? Being in the present and focused on it are not the same. It is like saying, "Sure, I able to walk alone at night through a bad area" - and actually being aware of your surrounding and adapting to the situation.
  - hinkley 10y ago
    when the child is doing fine, they get to live in the moment, and are often left alone to do what they are doing. When we don't like what they're up to we often talk to them about 'not yet' or 'not anymore' and time becomes something they have to contend with. And then we start doing fucked up things like asking five year olds what they want to be when they grow up. How much pressure is that? they don't even know what grown up is yet, except that people stop telling you what to do all day (oh, if only they knew, they would never grow up)
    - kahrkunne 10y ago
      >How much pressure is that? From my experience of having been a kid, none. It was always exciting to think about being an adult, and it's not like your answer meant anything - I'm not on track to be becoming an astronaut after all
    - Broken_Hippo 10y ago