For those of you old enough to remember Li'l Abner, you may remember the character Joe Btfsplk. For you young people, in the olden days when everyone read the local newspaper on Sunday, the comics or the "Funnies" were a page or two of color short cartoon strips such as Peanuts, Mutt and Jeff, Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Pogo, and Brenda Starr - Reporter, to name a few. Later there was Doonesbury, a Pulitzer Prize winning strip. But I digress.
The character Joe Btfsplk ran around with a permanent black cloud over his head. I often can relate to Joe. The sun can be shining, I can be with my favorite people, doing something I love to do, but in reality I'm just going through the motions. One lesson I have learned since the first of the year is to live in the moment.
We cannot do a damn thing about the past (but learn from it and not repeat anything that was painful), worrying about it and beating ourselves up over it achieves nothing. Worrying about the future should only be done at a time that your thoughts and actions will be productive. Otherwise there is a wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over something that cannot be changed at that time.
Life is too short. (And, for God's sake don't fret over time wasted in the past.) We need to grab the brass rings, embrace our friends and family, and get 125% out of every minute from here forward.
Then when you are by yourself or talking with the appropriate person at the appropriate time, figure out that issue you need to work out. Like trying to eat an elephant, it is best done one bite at the time.
As Charles Schultz once said in "Peanuts", "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."
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