35. Open your present

Practice being awake in the present moment. Make the most of your awareness of this hour. Don’t live in the past (unless you want guilt) or worry about the future (unless you want fear), but stay focused on today (in case you want happiness).

“Until you can put your attention where you want it,” said Emmet Fox, “you have not become master of yourself. You will never be happy until you can determine what you are going to think about for the next hour.”

There is a time for dreaming, planning, and creative goal-setting. But once you are complete with that, learn to live in the here and now. See your whole life as being contained in this very hour. Let the microcosm become the macrocosm. Live the words of the poet William Blake ...

Get 100 Ways To Motivate Yourself, Third Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.