How to fall in love with your life
Why don't we love the present moment more than we do?
Perhaps because it seems ordinary, compared to the shiny possibility of the future. On the flip side, most of us operate from memory 95 percent of the time. It appears we are always trying to figure out how to make the future better than the past or to understand what went wrong and make sure we "don't go through that again!"
Between striving for the future and the memories from the past, the present moment gets obliterated, and this is a problem for a simple reason:
When the future arrives, it will come as the present, so the future is really determined by how you take care of the present moment. We could say the only important step is the one you're taking now.
The secret
The secret is learning how to enjoy where you are and keep operating from that place of acceptance, while planning where you want to go to next.
I have always felt that a mindful mindset is a practice that makes everything in your life better, if we can learn to do this one simple step…
fall in love with right now.
You have to learn to hold the polarities of the present moment maybe not being what you want , but being ok with that, as you attempt to improve it. Sounds weird right?
This is what the present moment is all about. It contains the future and the past, so we could imagine each moment as nothing but eternity in action! I often think of mindful living as living life like a circle rather than in a straight line.
When you make your life linear
When you make your life linear, you are always on a journey to "GET SOMEWHERE." It can take all the presence out of living. There always seems to be some finish line to cross or a new ladder to climb.
And this is part of growing your life, but it is not our "doings" that creates the joy and satisfaction, even though we are sold that idea relentlessly in out culture. And if it were true, then the richest and busiest people would also be the happiest people on earth, but we see time and time again it isn't true.
Joy and happiness are born from inside, they are a state of " being " and the doing is the gravy.
There are no sharp edges in a circle, and no way to know what is beginning and what is ending. It all becomes present and important.
One must inhale to exhale. Seems almost silly to even say it. Yet how often do we not see the connections in our lives, the intimate dance we have with all things.
I'll share a few examples of this idea of the circle as an entry point for mindfulness.
GIVING AND RECEIVING
We say giving is important in our world, but how can we give if no one is there to receive it? They are equal forces for me, and each of us will be on both sides of that equation at some point in our life.
Isn't that a beautiful thought that one must receive in order to let someone else have the joy of being a giver. When we don't know who is giving and who is receiving, then we are living in a place of gratitude and mindfulness.
SUCCESS
We focus so much on successful endings in the world, but what about the beginnings?
Every successful ending was a unknown, perhaps risky beginning. Every success story was once a question mark.
Will it work?
How will we do it?
When you see success somewhere, understand it began somewhere else that wasn't successful.
It was only a seed in someones mind when it started. So mindfulness is also the idea that every potential exists in every moment in every thing. Even in places where there is no potential...yet!
If you can connect to your life as a circle rather than a straight line, you can see the importance and value of all of it.
CONNECTIVITY
Everything is connected to everything else, and you can't separate out the aspects of your life you think are painful or unnecessary.
It's all necessary
It's all important
It all matters
It's all equal in the end. It's just how you choose to work with it that matters. That's really what being mindful can teach you about life.
You can book a free discovery session with David here.