What would you give to know the future? It sounds nice doesn't it. Going to sleep at night, knowing there will be no surprises. You are prepared for what will come. The unknown future is a breeding ground of fear and confusion. The biggest thief of your happiness today is likely the uncertainty of the future. Being a responsible person means you are prepared for your tomorrows. How do you prepare for a day that you have no idea what it will bring? It's easy, know the future.
Have you ever heard the expression...."If we don't know our past, we are doomed to repeat it"? It has been repeated enough to become accepted as a truth. I can agree with the notion that our past mistakes can teach us valuable lessons. Experience will give you foresight to avoid obstacles. It is not true that the past repeats itself. It is precisely what it is, the past. I wish I could repeat my past and get it right but time is gone. The past is irretrievable.
Time is forging ahead without mercy. It leaves minutes and seconds behind in a scrapheap like a junk yard. It is gone, unusable. What has been is unique to the moments it existed. Think about all the things that have to converge to make a moment in time. Lives being lived, work being done, random events. Everything pasted together to make it a moment. Then it is gone. As days go by everything changes. The past is not repeatable. You may think I am playing a word game but I am not. My point is that the past is not a true measure of the future. As things have been does not mean they will continue as they have.
Have you tried ordering something from the Sears catalog lately? At one time they were the world's largest store. Shouldn't they be where almighty Amazon is today. Or bigger. Stop by and pick up a movie tonight at Blockbuster, swing by and we will talk it all over. Many around the world would have you believe because they have 20/20 hindsight they are more than prepared to lead you in the future. But do they have the right stuff? Does studying the past make someone clairvoyant? It may be that we repeat the past because we listen to the forecasters of the past relived.
The promise of a piece of future knowledge is tempting. We become obsessed with the news and current events because we think we are gaining an edge. I have heard people say it. They are educating themselves to stay alert for the future. They are studying today's events to attain knowledge hidden to advance themselves in the future. The idea that we will never be surprised or overwhelmed by keeping informed is commonly held by many. The media knows you better than yourselves. We have been convinced of this. To know what comes tomorrow you have to know what happens today. We tune in like addicts. We profess we only believe the truth. But we tune in nevertheless.
Never invest your hard earned money with anyone who cannot tell you what the future holds. Financial advisors can be some of the most misleading people around. They are professionals at promising you the future based on what has happened in the past. They have charts and graphs to prove it. If I could recite to you the entire Encyclopedia Britannica (if that exists) would you trust me to foretell the future? I am an expert on the past after all, you can put your faith in me. That's what most of us do in financial markets. We put all of our hope in the past and the immediate moment. We think the future is open and transparent to our minds. But things change quickly. There is no guarantee of the future hidden in the past.
I have never had my palm read, or trusted tarot cards, or met a real honest to goodness gypsy women with a crystal ball. Maybe these are reliable sources of secret future knowledge. I might not have gotten the right fortune cookie yet, I could use the right lucky numbers to win the lottery. It is safe to say that many have been fleeced by the promise of future knowledge. It is a flourishing industry and always will be. The future is a scary place. What lies ahead in the unknown is mysterious and frightening for people. Doom and gloom hang over all of our heads daily now. Crazy days.
There is nothing wrong with keeping informed. There is knowledge to be gained by the study of the past. Preparation for our lives come with every step of our growth and education. We prepare ourselves to live and handle our daily responsibilities. When we create a fear-based mentality where we are waiting for doom and hopelessness every morning, things may have gotten out of balance. Worry cannot fix a global political crises. Constantly strapping on a heavy burden of hopelessness making yourself a mental martyr will not do you any good. Are we turning into a society of hopeless, frantic and fearful people? I hope not.
There is a lack of trust in our world. We do not trust our leaders, our neighbors or even our friends. There will be no quick fixes for where we are at now. Nobody knows what tomorrow brings. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, yet we worry and plan as if we are. This is not a new struggle, generations have lived through the ups and downs of this world. Tomorrow is yet to appear but I refuse to worry, today has enough to attend to for now. //
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