Life happens every day.
The other day, I was sitting in my office. At the moment, there isn’t much work on my desk because our project is still in the analysis phase, and I am part of that process. With nothing urgent to do, my mind began to wander.
It drifted into the past.
I started asking myself many questions. Why did certain things happen to me? Why did people behave the way they did? Why was I treated that way?
Later, another thought appeared.
This time it was about my son.
What will happen to him? He isn’t studying seriously. He doesn’t seem focused on his education. As he is my only son, I couldn’t stop imagining what his future might look like.
Without realizing it, I spent the whole day traveling between the past and the future—replaying old memories and worrying about things that had not yet happened.
Then I remembered something that Zen teaches.
Zen is beautifully simple. It is not about complicated rituals or endless philosophical discussions. It is about direct experience. It reminds us to stay in the present moment, to live consciously, and to act with intention.
When we are fully present, we naturally make better decisions. We give our complete attention to what we are doing right now. If we continue acting consciously today, tomorrow will largely take care of itself. Worrying about the future rarely improves it, but acting wisely in the present often does.
The past is different.
It is only a collection of memories. We cannot return to it or live there again. We can only learn from it.
When painful memories keep returning, perhaps the best response is not to fight them but simply to observe them. Our mind may not be trying to torture us. It may simply be warning us:
“This happened once. Be careful that it doesn’t happen again.”
I have experienced this while programming.
Whenever I face a difficult technical problem, memories of previous failures sometimes come back. I remember the frustration, the stress, and the feeling that I had no solution.
At first, those memories make me anxious.
But then I remind myself that they are not predictions of failure—they are reminders of experience. They tell me where I struggled before, so I can approach the problem differently this time. Instead of becoming trapped by those memories, I use them as lessons.
I once came across a quote often attributed to the Buddha:
Someone asked, “We all have to die one day.”
The Buddha replied, “No. We die only once. We live every day.”
Whether or not these were the Buddha’s exact words, the message is powerful.
We often become obsessed with the fact that one day we will die. Since death is inevitable, we sometimes forget that life is happening right now.
The truth is that we die only once.
But we are given the opportunity to live every single day.
That realization changes everything.
Instead of asking, “How much time do I have left?” perhaps the better question is, “How fully did I live today?”
If I live each day with awareness, do meaningful work, love the people around me, learn continuously, and become a better person than I was yesterday, then I have already lived a complete life.
When that day finally comes, I hope I will have no regrets.
Because if I have truly lived every day, I will not need another life to feel complete.