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     Eventually you will look for something else to make use of your time. (Make use of is the critical thing here). You may be lead to pick up a book you have had for decades, but have never read. The next thing you know, you are reading all the time because taking TV out of the picture, because it’s not really interactive at all, has given you the opportunity to stop watching and start doing things that you are involved and active in yourself, as opposed to just looking at the TV. You may find things such as painting, Heck even video games are a great thing to do because it requires you to participate and be active in what happens! I think allot of people who are depressed, due to the feeling of monotony would be greatly helped by finding the more interesting aspects of themselves and to pursue them.

     You never know what you may find, but whatever it is, it can’t show itself without you, and it will be great because it is a part of YOU that you never knew about! Suddenly, TV dosen’t seem all that great after all, because you have discovered so many things you love doing!

      And remember, life is meant to be lived (verb)! All you need to do is go to the nearest book store and look around at all the great things people are so passionate about, that they wrote a book on it, and the subjects are endless!

                      The Philosophy of Now by: Joshua Crispino

                    How many times have we all been asked, and have asked ourselves “what does the future hold”? We are told to “look to the future” and plan for it. How about “making memories”? Everything we are told to do is for the future. We make plans for the future; make memories for the future, go to school for the future and so forth. My question is this: what ever happened to the only time we are ever really in… right now? The truth is that every planet, every star, every rotation of a planet, the way a planet goes around it’s star and the way in which a moon goes around it’s planet is circular. Even the hands of a clock go round and round, but the concept of time is supposed to be linear. Logically, this makes no sense.

     We go to college, not to experience going to class, learning and growing, but “for the future”, and the funny thing is, after graduation during an interview, the question is asked “where do you see yourself in 5 years”!    Life is being lived by billions of people for a time they will never see. When the time arrives that was looked forward to, it is no longer the future. It becomes now. Everyone speaks of the future as if it is a destination. It’s not. It is a concept that is never realized. The truth is, there is only right here, right now.

     Instead of living life to “make memories”, we should be living now to the fullest, experience every minute to the fullest? If life is lived for the future then the here and now is not the focus of attention. Here and now is where life is lived. Why grow up to become something instead of living every day as the best we can be? We are not here to make memories, which are only mental recollections of a now that has passed. On the contrary, if we live for today, giving ourselves completely to the here and now, the future will take care of itself. We must understand that the future becomes now, but now will never become the future. To live for the future is to live in a way that is constantly taking all our attention away from what is right in front of us, which at one point, was looked at as being "the future".   

     When I was in high-school, we would always wonder what it would be like in 2000. Truth is, when 2000 came, it wasn’t the future anymore. 2000 was the present. 2000 was now, because we never get to the future. We are always in one big “here and now” regardless of the date or the time on the clock. If we do not live for now, we are missing out on all the wonder that is around us. People look ahead to the summer when it is cold and then look to the winter because it is too hot, and never give attention to the beauty of either one, because they look ahead to a season and when that season comes, they look ahead to the next one. It is comical when seen this way because of the irony of it, but it is sad also because it takes all attention away from living! To live looking ahead is the same as saying that “I will begin living when I finish this”, or “I am doing this now, for later”. How about doing things for now and understanding that the benefits have a lasting value, instead of saying that it basically has no current value? A tree does not grow to become something later. A tree grows because it is focused on it now.

     Here is the reality of it… we do something for the future, but when it is done and the future becomes now, it is not seen because now something else is being done for yet another future. The cycle continues until decades go by planning and doing for a future that never comes. This reminds me of the saying “one in the hand is worth more two in the bush”. This is basically says that what you have and are doing now is far more important than what you think you will have later. The here and now is a real and tangible state of being while the future is only a concept. In short, I hope that after reading this, you will begin to look around you and begin to see the value in what is right now. By doing so, by giving your all right now, you will ensure that the now that will be is better. The greatest thing is that you will be giving it the attention then to actually appreciate it, and always remember that is it very undesirable to live the “care free life”. To live care free is to live without caring, and that nothing to live for.  L

We are all here to improve both ourselves and help others do the same. This can only be done in the here and now. Remember to take care of today and you will not have a need to plan for tomorrow. Being a responsible and caring person will take care of that. Live today, LOVE today, care today, because tomorrow truly never comes.