Bringing the Future into the Present - by bringing in more presence

In business, the quarterly report is bemoaned by those seeking long term sustainable change as it puts focus on short term profit over long term thinking. In international development, short time frames for long-term problems such as reducing poverty are also much bemoaned. In international finance, the high profitability of short term trading makes long term investments difficult to secure and prone to problems. When business, investment and international development have things in common (and there are quite a few), one can be sure that there's a substantial problem. In this case, the structures of the vast majority of Western-stylized institutions are not created in such a way that we are able to think about 'the long now'. 7-generational thinking, as suggested by many Native American communities? Yeah, right. We can't even think one generation ahead. We need a way to bring the future into the present - to enable and encourage long term thinking for sustainable development.

But at the same time, we in the 'globalised' world have a hard time actually being in the present moment. Our distracted, atomised selves bounce from idea to idea and place to place faster than ever. Advertising, media, the demands of a fast-paced world - all of it makes slowing down and simply being present, moment by moment, difficult. And if sustainable development requires personal and organisational well being and if wellbeing requires us to be fully present to our own lives, then we are clearly not there yet.

It seems as if these two needs - for long term thinking and for greater present moment awareness - are contradictory. But what if the solutions were intertwined? If we slowed down some in the present moment, we might well become more attuned to the impacts our actions were having - right now. Many of the 'problems' of sustainable development - such as climate change - are already upon us. Climate migration is already happening. Water is already short. People are already malnourished. Future trends might well exasperate these tendencies, but we don't need to focus too much on the future to realise that the real challenges are already before us.  Future-trends might help us see what to pay attention to - so much is happening in the present moment - but our fundamental capacity to be adaptive and responsive to future crises and the inevitable unknown unknowns that so often knock governments, businesses and aid agencies of course lies not only in long term thinking and strategic planning but in immediate present moment awareness. Which can be seen as separate from short term thinking - short term thinking is rarely a full appreciation of the impact one's present actions are having on others (and on one's self). Cultivating presence - or mindfulness, if you prefer - can, thus, enable us to cultivate our adaptive capacity for long term solutions to long term problems.