Everything we do in the present moment has an arrow. It points toward the future. Actions have their impact now, they give their results now, but those aren’t the only results. The results also go on into the future.

"It’s important to have the perspective that comes when you’re fully in the present moment. Your relationship to the past and your relationship to the future get changed. The past is just a memory right now. It’s gone. The future’s not here yet. So when thoughts of past and future come in, remember they’re just thoughts. The reality of the karma that you’re creating right now: That’s what’s actually there in the present, and that’s what you want to understand. You want to see when craving comes up for a thought: Where is it coming from? How does it start? How does it end? And what’s the allure?

Remember what the Buddha said about sensuality: It’s not your sensual pleasures that you’re so attracted to, it’s your plans for those sensual pleasures. That’s where the craving is. And this principle applies across the board. Your fears about the future: It’s not the future that you’re afraid of. Thoughts come into the mind, and you’re afraid of those thoughts, you latch onto them out of fear. So you have to look at them: Are they things that you really want to get involved with? Are they things you can trust? Try to give them less reality, and give more reality to the processes by which these things happen.

The skill that comes from learning how to deal with these things so you don’t fall for them, you don’t suffer from them, is something you can develop in the present moment and carry over into the future. And it’s a good thing to carry over, because everything we do in the present moment has an arrow. It points toward the future. It will lead to something. That’s what the teaching about karma is all about: Actions have their impact now, they give their results now, but those aren’t the only results. The results also go on into the future."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "What Are You Taking into the Future?"

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