Today is put before you as a blessing. This is to be a bless-ed day. Feel sprightly, and you will make this day sprightly as well. There is fate, yes. At the same time, you are the maker of your fate in the Presence of Today.
How do you make it so you feel sprightly? By not feeling glum or fearful. What horse do you bet on to win the race? One that is pulling a plow or one without baggage to carry, one who rushes to what is ahead or one who keeps turning around to look back to see how far he has come? One who keeps questioning or one who moves right along?
You have no question about which horse you would bet on. No question at all. Yet, when it comes to life, you hem and haw. You say, “What shall I do? Think about yesterday or move on to today? Or should I think of tomorrow and run away from today as much as I possibly can? Maybe I should just quit anyway. Life has disappointed me too often. In the long run, nothing is going to change, or all change is out of my hands.”
You are the one who has to change. When you feel forlorn, you don’t have to pretend your forlornness away. You just have to put it to one side. If you can stop feeling forlorn altogether, great! If you can’t, just put forlornness somewhere where it will not trip you up. You do not have to cling to past thoughts. You have a million thoughts. Certainly you can put some thoughts aside and put fresh thoughts in their place.