Dr. William Osier said that this simple habit, which could be formed like any other habit, was the sole secret of his happiness and success in life. Live life in "day-tight compartments," he advised his students. Look neither forward nor backward beyond a 24-hour cycle. Live today as best you can. By living today well you do the most within your power to make tomorrow better. If you have not read his excellent little essay, "A Way of Life," in which he describes the advantages of this habit, I urge you to do so. (William Osier, A Way of Life, Harper & Brothers, New York.)
William James, commenting upon this same philosophy as a cardinal principle of both psychology and religion for curing worry, said, "Of Saint Catherine of Genoa it is said that 'she took cognizance of things, only as they were presented to her in succession, moment by moment.' To her holy soul, the divine moment was the present moment ... and when the present moment was estimated in itself and in its relations, and when the duty that was involved in it was accomplished, it was permitted to pass away as if it had never been, and to give way to the faces and duties of the moment which came after."
Alcoholics Anonymous uses the same principle when they say, "Don't try to stop drinking forever—merely say, 'I will not drink today.'"
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