My beloved wife prepares my lunch for me whenever I go to work. Yet, during the initial stages of my marriage I had an awful habit of asking what’s for dinner even before I have my lunch. Similarly, when I am at a function or attending any other event I used to think about things in the future that are yet to take place. Due to this habit I used to completely miss out on the opportunity of enjoying that very moment. This mode of thinking headed me into a catastrophe where it led me towards a significant accident at the Kottawa junction.

My focus was not on driving but on another task that needed to be completed. Life is comparable to driving a vehicle. It allows your thoughts to overtake your focus and ignore driving the vehicle vigilantly at the present moment, you are sure to lose yourself ending up in some horrifying destination that you never ever expected to be in. I have seen many people displaying their dream car as the wallpaper of their phone but I have witnessed that they are reluctant to do what they ought to do in the present moment in order to achieve it. Dreaming of the future without living in the present is as though you are pasting beautiful pictures of babies all over your room instead of finding a partner.

A noble plan will die as a plan if it is not taken through the process of implementation, which only takes place in the present moment. A successful man is a person who would continuously focus on working with what is on his plate at that very moment. Dreaming about a destination you intend to reach without working on what you have in hand will only make you a man without a crop during the time of harvesting. It is exactly the same as thinking of what might be there for dessert without eating the lunch which is on your table at the present moment.

Just as dreams are required for life, dreams also have the possibility of making you only a dreamer and not a winner. Dreaming is the start of the race whilst achieving is the completion. Dreams are beautiful as they are the final mental note you intend to witness. In order to reach that final mental note you must encourage your mind to work consistently and continuously. Living in the present moment to its maximum is what will provide the necessary requirements to drive the vehicle of life forward. If I need to go from Borelesgamuwa to Kurunegala, first I must go to Kottawa, so that I could take the highway towards Kadawatha and from there I could drive on the Kandy road towards Mirigama that leads to the highway that I could reach Kurunegela.

My focus has to be on each and every phase, even though the required destination may seem far away from the place of departure. Many get lost in life due to extremely poor focus management. To be strong in focus management you need to first scrutinise and get your priorities in order. I have seen O/L students attempting to begin online businesses at the brink of their examinations. There is no argument that Sri Lanka is in need of performing entrepreneurs but when you ought to concentrate on completing your O/L’s first, you should not try to initiate your online business at the same time.

It is as if you are wearing your shoes prior to putting on your trousers. Live in the moment whilst you dream of the future. Living in the future while sleeping in the present will make you a day dreamer. Similar to our body our mind also seeks the shorter and most comfortable route. Dreaming is always comfortable as there is no grinding involved in dreaming. That is the reason we are fond of dreaming of an attractive body structure yet we are reluctant to walk 9KM a day. Humans by nature prefer to reach the end as quickly as possible. Dreaming is like fast forwarding your mind to live in the future.

Fast forwarding the music will not help you to enjoy it. If you are to enjoy the music then you must play the track. Living exists in the playing mode while dreaming is in the fast forward mode. It is important to have big dreams, goals and aspirations. Yet, it is even more important to drive in the present so that you could reach the future. Many youngsters have ruined their lives merely by deciding to taste what they ought to have been tasting in the future. They have decided to have premarital sex thus during their honeymoon they do not have anything special to taste as the gifts have already been unwrapped before the birthday party. Do not rush in to life, as life has its own timing just like spring, summer, autumn and winter approaches at their specific timings.

Do not try to fast forward to the future by ignoring the priorities of the present. One day my daughter, my little princess Esther slept a little longer than usual and as she woke up she said that she was hungry and requested to have her breakfast before having her morning wash. I did not encourage it. If I did so, her mind would believe that it is acceptable to skip and move to the future by postponing the present. With great love and affection I asked her to have her breakfast in the usually accepted routine.

You may think there is nothing wrong in allowing her to have her breakfast before her morning wash once in a while, but for me it is as though I am planting a destructive seed of procrastination in her mind where the mind will attempt to propose the same routine repeatedly as it already tasted the comfort of skipping the presence. Mind freedom is the most valuable asset one possess because everything else including financial freedom will fall in place the very moment you get hold of your mind freedom. Possessing mind freedom and knowing where you want to go will not take you anywhere unless you know how to go there and above all being able to go there by living through every phase of the process.

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