“One day at a time” has become my mother’s mantra these days. You might recall that she is 91 years old, of lively mind but increasingly challenged physical condition, happily married to a 93 year old man whose memory is in severe decline but whose physical condition is still quite spry. Mom likes to say that with her mind and his fitness, they make a pretty formidable whole person! As you might surmise, however, each day presents its own opportunities and challenges, much as yours and mine do, but perhaps magnified given their age and stage in life. For Mom, focusing on each day’s tasks as most important and finishing the day with the satisfaction that another day has been lived successfully has become her way of coping with whatever any day might bring.

There is much wisdom on focusing on the here and now. As someone once observed, the past is past, and no one is guaranteed the future. One has, for sure, only the present, and maybe it is no accident that the word also means “gift.” Years ago, I borrowed an advertising slogan (I have forgotten the source) to make a similar point: “Now never waits. Too often unused Nows become unusable Thens.” How many times have we seen someone (or been guilty ourselves) becoming so obsessed with the future that they (we) miss something important happening now, this moment, right in front of them (us)?

Baseball players and their coaches often refer to the importance of the immediate with such statements as “we’re just focused about the game today, not the final standings. If we can win today, and then tomorrow and then the next day, the standings will take care of themselves.” Teachers, too, extol the virtues of doing today’s work today, putting in the time, effort and focus that are crucial to the discipline of learning.

Of course, you know there is a “but” coming. But what about setting goals, making plans, envisioning where one wants to be, all of those future-oriented aspects of life? If one is always focused on the here and now, there is danger of drifting, of not achieving any goal, of bobbing on the current of whatever tides come along. JK-12 education is all about preparing children for college and life beyond post-secondary education, and having some sense of what one wants out of life can be a valuable tool in providing structure and meaning to that life. One might argue that part of the challenge facing our country these days is developing a clear, shared vision of what we want our future to be like; we are too focused on the present.

The ninth characteristic identified in the IB Learner Profile is “balanced.” IB defines balanced: “they understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve well-being for themselves and others.” I am a fan of balance. I have written before about the idea from Niels Bohrs that “the opposite of a Great Truth is also a Great Truth,” and the vivid portrayal in the film, “Koyanasqatsi,” of “life out of balance.” I think we can add to the IB language about balance by adding that intellectual and emotional balance can include holding seemingly contradictory thoughts simultaneously.

One day at a time can be balanced with planning for the future, envisioning possibilities, embracing goals and dreams. Without question, my mother plans to be in church next Sunday, seeks after new knowledge through her copious reading and follows with interest the events of the world around her. She also recognizes that the immediate can always trump the future, that worrying about what tomorrow might bring can seriously spoil today. The baseball player states the obvious: today’s game is the only one available to win or lose. Win often enough and the long-term goal of the playoffs and the World Series, without question the goal for every major league baseball player is possible.

The maturation process in human beings is characterized by children gradually learning how to focus on more than me, my wants and now. By example, we teach them how to make plans and have hopes for the future while attending to the daily business of living. In the television show, we have the chance to laugh, sympathize, or identify—whatever might be our temperament and circumstances—as Bonnie Franklin confronted all-too-real situations in her life and the lives of her children. In the end, they grew up, presumably to launch their own adult lives.

So will our students grow up to launch their own adult lives. May they be blessed with balance.