Sometimes, when I think about my bright financial future, something bad happens.

I want to be financial independent so badly, that I do not respect the present.

The foundation of greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment, instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.

Eckard Tolle

The problem with this though is that happiness lies here. In the Now.

Just stop a moment thinking about money. Wake up from your dream. Listen to the silence.

Where is your bright future now? Where are your problems now? Not here.

Do you remember moments in your life when you were full of awe?

Maybe you climbed a mountain and at the peak you were struck by the magnificence of it all?

Or you played with a young child and it showed you the world through it’s eyes. A mystery. No big problems.

That’s when you feel most alive. You stop wanting to be somewhere else. Someone else.

Being happy did not require change. It required acceptance.

So what is my point? Should you stop saving? Just give up? Sit like a little buddha and smile?

No.  Planning for the future has a place. Thinking about where you want to go is great. Of course it is.

But realize that it is useful only up to a certain point. When planning turns into living in this future already, running away from what you have now, you have reached that point. You deprive yourself of  life’s  free gifts.

So, please.

Live your life now. Be happy. Take walks. Listen to birds. Play with your kids. Go fishing. Sing.

Automate all this money stuff and then just forget about it for a while.