It is difficult for us to understand, sometimes, unless we're quite spiritually or emotionally advanced that our happiness flows from living in this moment. This second. This minute. Right now.
It's taken me a long time to practice living in the moment. And sometimes my practice falters. And I find myself delving into my past. Or looking to something in the future.
And when I notice that I'm feeling off-center, or have a vague sense of discomfort, it's because I'm not right here in this present moment.
At one time I lived my life with a disembodied mind. My mind was off somewhere else. Thinking about some wrong someone had done me in the past. And maybe what I was going to do to get even with them. I would gnaw on old grievances, digging them up from where I buried them in my mind. I would spend time with them until I tired of going over them again and again. Then I would bury them and return to them another day.
Or else I would be wandering off in the future, indulging in some fantasy about some acquisition or situation that would finally bring me ultimate happiness. Maybe it would be a new relationship. A new job. A new car. Or a new house.
But as I grew older, I found that when I did acquire these things I fantasized about, they didn't bring me the happiness and joy that I sought. After a few days, when the new car got dirty, or the new relationship lost its spark then I would return to the unhappiness and dissatisfaction where I seemed to exist most of the time.
Happiness for me only exists in the present moment. I can't be happy in the past. Nor can I be happy in the future. All that exists is the here and now and this is the only time that I can enjoy it.
I've learned to accept the good and the bad in life as part of the pattern of the universe and I have learned to be happy with all of it – right now.
Click here to email John
