This age-old adage spoken by my granny in my youth still sits loudly inside me. As a shy, anxious young girl I was always looking ahead at what was to come. This caused no end of fretfulness and worry. My tummy was a bundle of nervous butterflies most of the time.

I can only guess now that my granny pulled out this saying in the hopes it would calm me down. It took years for it to sink in. In fact it wasn’t until my mid 40’s that I started to pay attention to it. My daughter was like me (without the shyness) and prone to panic over what was ahead. “Don’t borrow trouble”, I would tell her. Hmmm.

I realized I wasn’t following my own advice. So I looked deeper into what this statement really meant. The answer is control.

In my quest to mange my life effectively I was using control. I was always thinking ahead at how to influence the various possibilities that might confront me. The energy I was using was misdirected and often resulted in controlling things that I had no business controlling, with disastrous effects.

Call it maturity or increased self-awareness, I made the conscious decision to let go of control. This meant learning to live in the present. If I could pay full attention to what was happening in the moment, I could let the future arrive with open arms. At that point I could choose my response. Without the panic, anxiety and controlling feelings and behaviours, I could make better choices and enjoy the ride.

I learned that what we think might happen, may never actually occur. Being stuck on what could happen stymie’s the experience of openness moving forward.

So, what can you do to make this shift?

1. Mindfulness – focus your awareness on the present moment, and without judgment. In doing so, we let go of the tendency to let our mind wander to what could be rather than what is.

2. Intent – make the decision to be mindful and live in the present. This is your aim to support your quest for mindfulness.

3. Belief – embrace the idea that living within the present will open you to richness in experience and sensation. It may be helpful to ask yourself why you believe that constantly thinking and ruminating toward the future is so necessary?

4. Choose Your Response – the best thing about not worrying and trying to control what hasn’t happened yet, is that you get to decide how you want to respond at the moment the future arrives.

And finally, you and those around you will appreciate this shift. It takes the pressure off, as anxiety and controlling behavior can be so stressful for everyone.

Just yesterday my other grown daughter announced she “isn’t borrowing trouble” right now because she has no idea what will happen over the summer. In her words, it was taking up way too much energy and negativity ruminating about what might happen as opposed to living her life right now. Thanks granny.

What about you? Are you living life for today or tomorrow?