Today is a gift, that is why they call it the present! (Eleanor Roosevelt)
Indeed it is. I am so thankful to alive and to be blessed with great friends and family. My husband and I talk about it all the time. I pinch myself every once in awhile. That isn't to say that i don't have my moments, hours, or days when i don't feel so fortunate, but rather sad. I do. However, when i am down i remind myself that it is a choice. I can choose to be happy or sad. Of course, i choose to be happy! Sometimes it isn't that easy, but i keep plugging along, shaking things up until i am.
The quote has a lot to say about living in the present, not living in the past, and not postponing life until the future. When i was a lot younger i use to not live so much in the present. I was always striving to achieve some goal in the future. And once i achieved that goal i would be happy, but then I would immediately establish another goal to achieve. This served me well for a long while (e.g. I graduated from some good schools with good grades, got a good job, got promoted quickly, traveled extensively, etc...). However, there came a point in my life in my late 20s when i realized that i wasn't so happy, that i wasn't allowing myself to indulge in the present. To have fun, enjoy friendships, etc.... I got sick of striving for something all the time, not living in the now, sacrificing today for tomorrow. When would it end? It never would!
So i started reading things like the Tao Te Ching and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and i stumbled upon another truism:
Betting today on tomorrow is a bad bet.
I agree and since then (15+ years now!), i have tried to live my life more in the present. Of course i am still a strategic thinker by nature and prone to planning for the future, but i make it a point to be happy today. To live in the now, not in the past. No more waiting for the future. The future is now, the present and the present is a gift!!!
3 comments:
A very good reminder my friend! It's so hard not to think about the what ifs of the past and the what ifs of the future. But letting go of these helps you live in the present and enjoy the little precious moments we encounter.
Thank you for reminding me to live in the present. As a professional soul searcher I know how hard it is to live in the here and now, and what a learned skill that is. But it's the little gifts like that little hand that grabs ahold of yours just because your there, that song that gets played on the radio on your way to work, or just watching your 6 year old make a basket in his basketball game. Your post was a true gift on this Friday afternoon.
Thanks Anastasia and Kirk for your comments. (And it is great to hear from you Kirk!!! It has been awhile! Hope to hear from you more! Bests to Laura and the kiddos.)
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