It’s so easy for our minds to get lost in thought—to wander to what we want, to the things we’d like to have or achieve.
It can be so easy for us to think about the things we want to experience.
This is a tendency of our minds—to look forward, to think, to plot and plan. To get lost in dreams or ideas or the things we desire. To create stories. To make us feel we need whatever it is that we want in order to feel lighter or happier or whatever other feeling we want to feel.
And while having desires and hopes and dreams is normal, natural, it’s also important to bring ourselves, continuously, back to where we are—right here, right now.
The only moment we’re ever actually in.
If we believe we can only feel lighter or happier or more content if we achieve or have whatever it is that we want, we’ll always feel like we’re not quite there, like we’re missing something.
And we’ll miss out on what we do have: the moment that we’re in.
We are wherever we are.
We have this moment, this breath, this heartbeat.
We can find lightness and joy and ease right here where we are.
It’s an illusion to think that we’ll “finally be happy” or “fully content” if we achieve that thing off in the future, because when we’re there, when we reach that moment, achieve that goal, there will just be something else our minds will want to reach for, something else we’ll want to have or achieve.
Once we understand this, deeply, we can hold our dreams and visions lightly, softly, gently, while we also actively practice presence, being present—letting ourselves settle into where we are, return to the moment we’re in.
We have to find a way to allow ourselves to be fully where we are.
When I walk out in nature, when I feel the air and see the greens of the leaves and the blue in the sky, when I feel the warmth of the sun, or hear the birds, or see the way the world almost sparkles, I feel totally content, totally present, at peace. When I feel my breath or my body and I’m present, truly present, I feel at ease.
Yes, maybe there are things that I want in life—things that I do not yet have—but there are also really beautiful parts of where I am right now. Opportunities. Space. Blessings. Things I know I’ll miss or long for or think back fondly on when I’m no longer in this place or this space or this time.
There’s beauty in each moment, if only we’re able to open to it and see it.
We, often unwittingly, put so much pressure on ourselves—to have things figured out or to achieve whatever dream it is that we want—but life is happening right here, right now, in this moment.
I want to allow those dreams, those things I hold in my heart, while I soften into the space where I am, while I appreciate what I currently have, right here, and right now.
I want to live my moments fully, deeply, presently.
I want to appreciate the life I’m living while I’m living it.
I want to be in these moments, settle here, allow myself to fully be here, right now, where I am, in this space where I am.
We can only really taste and live and experience our lives in the moment that we’re in. We can only live life fully, vibrantly, completely, in the present.
The present moment is the only one we truly have.
So it’s important to practice coming back, over and over. We have to train ourselves, practice, to come back, to be present, to breathe in this moment. To feel what it feels like to be fully here, right now, in this moment.
If we’re always living for the future, we’ll miss out on life while we’re living it.
We’ll miss all of the things we have right now.
So yes, let’s dream and envision, and work softly, soulfully for what it is that we want, for where we feel we’re meant to be; let’s open up to what we feel unfolding before us, opening within us. And let’s also allow ourselves be right here, right now, where we are.
Sink into this moment, feel it deeply.
Fully.
Completely.
Breathe it in.
Let’s let ourselves be right here where we are.
~
AUTHOR: LISA ERICKSON
IMAGE: YULIA POLYAKOVA/PEXELS
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