If it is "good," you would like to have more like it, because you are enjoying life. If it is "bad," you wish it would get over with. If it is "indifferent," you wish something would happen to change it. You are quite familiar with this variegated pattern of the days, as they come along, aren't you? In fact, this is "life" for you, because life exists only in the present, only in the present moment, only in what you are doing, and feeling, and seeing right now.



What is the secret of why this present moment of "life" is good, bad or indifferent? This "why" should not be a secret, if you want all days to be good days. So let's put the present under a microscope, so to speak, and take a careful look at it.

Face the present squarely

Turn now, so that you are squarely facing the present. Concentrate on this day, this hour, this moment. Concentrate on your life as it is at this present moment.

You will find that this is a bit difficult to do. It would be difficult for anybody. Even though this is the only time when there is "life" in your history, you find it difficult to concentrate on the present alone. You have already "lived the life" that is in your past, and there is no "life" yet in your future.

"Life" exists only in the present moment, and this is the most important moment. Yet the "present moment" never seems to possess a distinctiveness all its own. It is always conditioned by what has happened in the past, and by that persistent expectancy for the future.

Much of the time you are consciously aware of this conditioning by the past, and the expectancy of the future. This is the case at this moment, as you concentrate on the present. But, you are subconsciously aware of this "triple-play" reaction 100 per cent of the time. Subconscious activity is constantly proving that the present is directly influenced by the past and that the future is being predicated by the combination of the past and present.

That will of yours

There is just one factor in your being that is concentrating on the present exclusively. This is that will of yours, sitting at that "control panel" in your conscious mind. This will is directing you to act, react, feel and be what you are at this present moment. Yet you know that this will is constantly influenced by your subconscious and that your subconscious is basing its power on what has already been stored there.

Furthermore, because your subconscious is always eagerly anticipating change, and is always ready and willing to help changes come about, your will is influenced by this atmosphere of anticipation. Thus you find it difficult to concentrate on the present alone, because your will is subconsciously influenced by that three-way pull of "past, present and future."

There is a practical, everyday value to this natural function of your subconscious. It is that your whole life and your whole person are constantly being kept in focus, subconsciously. You can take advantage of this by creating a conscious awareness of the whole picture through self-influence.

The determining balance

What kind of a person you are and what kind of life you have, at this present moment, is determined by the balance between positive and negative subconscious influences, influences that were determined by what you did in the past.

Put simply and directly, you are today what you have done in the past.

There is one notable exception that means that as you have accepted responsibility for your past, you can also accept responsibility for your present, and that you can declare to yourself that you are ready, willing and able to accept responsibility for your future, a future with a predetermined pattern to it.

If you are able to do this, more of your days will be "good" days, and fewer will be "bad" or "indifferent" days.