Looking to the Future for Hope

What if “Now” isn’t so Great?

I was thinking this morning about how we are always advised to live in the “now”.  I agree with that as we can’t relive the past and the future isn’t here.  But what if “now” isn’t so great? We all go through times when life has handed us hardship, and our days are sometimes filled with just getting through.  Health issues, kid issues, personal tragedies…they happen to all of us.  When this would happen in my life, I would use the concept of “tomorrow”.  

Tomorrow will be better, this too will end, and the sun will shine again. 

Even though we are living in the now, there is nothing wrong with looking to the future for our hope.  Knowing and believing that there is a better future can make such a difference in our will to persevere. I would envision tomorrow and all the wonderfulness it would bring.  Even if you have to drift into a Walter Mitty world every now and then, if it gets you through the day, what’s wrong with that? 

And dreaming about a beautiful future has a way of making it happen.

In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Psychiatrist and World War II concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl writes about how he would encourage the camp prisoners to go deep into the fantasies of their minds to endure the arduous hell of camp life.  Those who turned to this kind of therapy stood a much better chance of survival than those who let the reality of camp life overwhelm them. Giving up was the worst thing the prisoners could do.  Frankl states in his book that he could always tell when a prisoner was going to die by their decision to give up hope.

The reality is that “now” isn’t always happy.  However, we are given “now” for a reason and we need to see the opportunity, learn the lesson, and embrace the change it presents. 

Look to the future for Hope and have Faith in tomorrow…what other choice is there?

Photo:  Dare to Dream by: Alex Teuscher