Reflecting on and Appreciating Each Moment of Your Life As They are Happening
Many of us find ourselves living our lives through a series of day to day routines, commitments and obligations often finding very little or no time to reflect, breathe and take it all in. Sometimes we find ourselves saying, Wow! I can't believe it's already Monday or September or Christmas! Or we say things like, I can't wait until Friday or summer or next year. We seem to be paying more attention to what's behind us or to the future that has not happened yet and not paying as much attention to the Now.
See, that's the thing about time. It goes by whether or not you are paying attention. The question we need to ask ourselves is, what are we doing to appreciate and reflect on all the in between moments, the moments that we are living at this very minute.
A quote by Eckhart Tolle, who wrote the book, The Power of Now, says: "Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry-all forms of fear-are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence."
We often have to remind ourselves that, our lives are happening right now. They are happening in all of the in between moments. Often these are the moments you will look back on some day and they will be the most treasured of times. Do you ever stop and think about that within those moments? I suppose we don't always realize them all the time. As the mother of three amazing daughters I can say that now I will look back on so many days while they were growing up and the moments that may have been the most choatic, havoc causing, or just the day to day moments, are the ones I cherish the most. Like many of you, while they were happening I can be honest, I was definitely not thinking that way. I was thinking that I couldn't get through some of those moments fast enough! Recalling the time my daughters all decided they were going to cut their hair, or cover themselves head to toe with Vasoline. (*It took a week to fully remove from her hair, ugh.) The times of the temper tantrums in the super market when yes, I kind of had one myself as I collected my children and left the carrige full of groceries in the middle of the aisle. (No. It was not my most shining mom moment, but it felt necessary at the time.) The one billionth peanut butter and jelly sandwich where more went onto the furniture than was eaten, the reading of the same books and poems every single night, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod for one. Now, some almost twenty years later, I look back at those moments and actually smile. I smile because I was lucky and blessed enough to have those moments. (Yes even the chaotic ones.)
I have found that through my whole life that although I have appreciated all the moments, there may have been times that life was happening so fast around me it was difficult to stop to take a breath, to really recharge, reset and be able to take in the moments that were happening. Over the last few years especially I have realized how important it is to stay connected within the moments of your day. What is happening to us right now is the only real reality we have. What happened to us yesterday is already gone and tomorrow hasn't happened yet. We really need to try to stay present and believe how powerful our current reality is to our whole being.
Sometimes it's nice to take a few moments to recharge and just breathe. We often find that we have places that bring about the most peace for us. I know that my favorite place to be is by the ocean. I get the most peace and clarity from the smell of the salty air and the sound of the crashing waves. I also realize that I may not always be able to just take off to the ocean every minute I may need or want. I believe that we all can however find our place of peace in our minds. We can take a moment to quiet our minds and just think of a place or a thought that brings us the most peace. Maybe we can meditate, pray, listen to calming music, whatever it is that gets us to stay in our moment. It's like recharging our internal batteries. It's necessary for our well being. It's necessary to try to remove the external noise from our lives as much as we can. I realize we don't live in a world where there are always rainbows and butterflies every moment and we are going to encounter the dragons and storms of life at times. What we need to remember is that we can conquer the dragons if we realize that those moments, all of our moments are not permanent. The good, the bad, all the in between are only moments. We need to take them as they come and realize how much power we have over our thoughts and our focus towards the positive.
Treasure all the memories but just remember that what you are living are the memories you will cherish and look back on someday. Don't wait until the future to appreciate the present.
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