Oyasama once said:
“There is not a single day which you ought to complain about. All days are lucky days. . . . And not one day in the year is unlucky.”
Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 173
The past has already gone, and the future has not yet come. The past and the future exist only in our heads. What really exists is the present moment. That is how St. Augustine of Hippo viewed time.
The past is our memory of what happened. The future is our expectation of what will happen. Neither the past nor the future has any reality.
In novels and movies, it is possible to go to the past and the future using a time machine. In reality, however, it is not possible to leave the present. Furthermore, time cannot be stopped. Like the views from your train window, the present keeps changing as time marches on.
Some people live their entire lives in regret, unable to shake off their past. Some people worry so much about things that may or may not happen in a month’s time that they are depressed throughout the month. If we get carried along by memories of the past or fears about the future, we miss what is happening right in front of us. This is a shame, as so much wonder and happiness can be found in the present moment.
Some of us might read newspaper horoscopes or perhaps watch morning television shows featuring horoscopes. By the evening, however, we usually forget what our horoscopes said in the morning.
Oyasama says that every day is a lucky day. All living things are fully given God the Parent’s blessings every day. There is no such thing as an unlucky day. Rather than have preconceptions about what is lucky and unlucky, we can keep our minds open and unconditioned and live fully in this moment—right here, right now. That is the key to ensuring that today is a “lucky day.”