Time Orientation

Time Orientation
Winston Churchill, a famous author and politician, once said a simple quote I found to be astonishing; Churchill stated “If we open a quarrel between past and present we shall find that we have lost the future.” At one point in life we are almost always focused on one time zone or another either the past, the present or the future. I find almost always that these times zones can either be in sync or incompatible. Yes, there may be positive aspects to the past, the present or the future but with every positive there just so happens to be a negative that can either create conflict or level out every situation not only in life but also in the subconscious. I have experienced and have been able to evaluate every time zone in my life and they not only continue to teach me lessons but also impact each other in a major way.
It is astonishing how the only time zone that can affect both the present and the future but remain the same is the past. If I could pick one orientation I focus on most, it would have to be the past. I have spent most of my life and sometimes still spend most of it being past-oriented. I let what has happened in my past dictate my present attitude and encourage my future success. Being past oriented is more common to me not only because it is the easiest but because those are times events that remain the same, the past is safe it doesn’t change. Being past oriented has been both a positive and negative working force in my life. Negatively, I have let my past hurts within my last relationship significantly change my perspective on all present and future relationships. Past heartbreaks have given me a negative outlook on every relationship whether it is my love life, my family or friendships. Using the walls I have built because of my past they help me prevent certain events from happening to me again, which seems negative but can also bring positive. On the positive end, it has helped me build a better understanding of what needs to change in my present allowing me to have a better future. “Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.” Denis Waitley.
Present-orientation is probably the most enjoyable of my life. Even though I have a negative outlook on relationships, I use living in the present as a coping mechanism to avoid building future relationships. I consider myself at most times a present hedonist, living for pleasure to avoid the pain of reality. I often find myself at parties much more often than usual, creating short term relationships strictly for pleasure and making decisions without worrying about what the outcome may be. I consider it to be the “know better but do worse” era in my life. Although living in the present may seem to have a satisfying intent, the consequences outweigh the temporary rush. The only positive aspects to being a present hedonistic is the thrill I get from doing something I know I am not supposed to be doing and that short lived sensation of happiness I feel where nothing else really matters because the pleasure feels so satisfying. Negatively a present hedonistic mentality can have a terrible impact on my future meanwhile a negative impact on the people I take advantage of when building temporary relationships for the thrill. In some form I take living in the present as doing what others have done to me in the past, taking advantage in the present not caring about the long lasting trail or impact that it leaves behind.
“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” Winston Churchill. The future orientation is my least looked upon orientation but I yearn for the desire of its precious fruits but focus all too much on the past and present. When I think about the future, I often relate it to happy thoughts and bright fresh beginnings. It is often that I cannot see a bright future for myself because I can only imagine history repeating itself. I know where I want to be in the future; allowing me to get there is a different story. The negative aspect of being future oriented is forgetting to live in the moment you can, figuratively speaking, control. The positive aspect of being future-oriented is working hard to be better than you were yesterday, knowing that there is a possibility to rid your mind of negativity, which is exactly where I want to be.
Each of these time zones are remarkably different, carrying their own characteristics and their own significant impact on my life as well as yours. It becomes so easy to consume yourself with what happens in life that we forget the significance of time. The importance of how much our past can ultimately change our future or how focusing on our future can give our present a brand new meaning. With all being said and then I can just hope that with time comes progress, with the past comes a clarification of the present and with the present comes a passageway to the future.