Three questions that will change your life deeply forever!

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

When is the most important time?

Who is the most important person?

What is the most important thing to do?

 

When I first heard about these three questions, which come from a short story by Leo Tolstoy, it shock me to my bones because it was the answers were simple but totally the opposite of what we have been programmed to do.

 

(1) When is the most important time?

Our default mode is to run to the future and the past. Right now, we are thinking about our past, whether it is the happy times or the unhappy times, we tend to hold onto the past as if it’s where we belong, and we run to the future as if by doing that we can escape from the present.

 

What we do often is running to the future and the past to hide from the present.

 

The past has gone, and the future has not come.

 

So, the only important time is NOW.  If we pay all our attention to NOW, that’s where we have power over and that’s where the future is built.

 

(2) Who is the most important person?

 

Very often when we are in front of someone, we are thinking of someone else, or even wishing that the person in front of us will go away or move on. This creates a lot of agitation in our mind and eventually negative consequences. Once we realise that the person in front of us is the most important person, whoever that might be, whether it is the president or the cleaner, our own family or a total stranger, if we give 100% attention and offer our full presence, amazing things will happen to our mind and our lives. And positive consequences will inevitably follow.

 

What if we are alone. Then the most important person is ourselves. We give ourselves 100% attention and full presence of mind that we deserve. We ourselves are the most important person. Even happier and more peaceful consequences will follow.

 

(3) What is the most important thing to do?

 

Two words. Simple but difficult.

 

The most important thing to do is “To care”.

 

Whether we are working in a job we are not excited about or helping someone with her pain. Whether we are with our family or with a total stranger. The most important thing to do is to care.

 

Get the answers to these three questions right and your life will never be the same.