Our Concept of Time is Being Distorted

August is just around the corner; shouldn't you have ordered your Thanksgiving turkey by now? Or perhaps checked on the schedule for the coming season at the ice rink? Or lined up a spring weekend for when trout season opens? Have you noticed how far in advance we are encouraged to prepare for oncoming events in our lives? Early in July we find Back-to-School ads in the papers and any day now we will see the early arrival of Christmas merchandise in stores. In this era of global marketing and the complexities of international, as well as domestic, transactions, ordering and shipping of goods have to be completed well in advance of the dates when they are to be sold. We understand this. But our concept of time is being distorted by promotions that are aimed at calendar pages still a few flips away. If you need a new swim suit in August, good luck! You might well have more choice in April. If you need a down jacket in February, you may wish you had been alerted to that fact back in September. As soon as Labor Day has passed, Halloween candy will line the shelves where beach balls had been. As soon as Christmas displays come down, we will see Valentine's Day decor. You can count on it.

Anticipation often expands our enjoyment of events, but there are also benefits to living in the present. Awareness of the past and contemplation of the future are features of our lives in some degree every day, but to spend too much time dwelling on the past or anticipating the future robs us of fully appreciating the here and now. Today is A-OK.