Scottish poet, Robert Burns, envies a mouse for its ability to live in the now.
Robert Burns, mindful even in the 18th century.
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men
Gang aft agley,
An’lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e’e.
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!’
Robert Burns: To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough, 1785.
‘We can judge ourselves and find ourselves to be wanting; we can imagine ideals and find the present to be unacceptable by comparison; we can reconstruct the past; we can worry about imagined futures; we can suffer with the knowledge that we will die.’
thefictiontherapist.com 