START LIVING NOW

Dear Fellow Traveling Companions,

I shared a delightful day with a dear friend, each tucked in our own corner of the room, each working on our individual projects that had a deadline. Come lunchtime we got out her good china and silver settings to have a very ordinary lunch in an elegant fashion. After lunch and before returning to our work we took a glorious walk along the beach on an absolutely spectacular day. With the days of summer few, we decided not to wait.

“Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God.”

–Mary Manin Morrissey

We keep waiting. We live life trapped and limited by the feelings of “what if…” and “only when…” when now is the only moment we really have.

Too many of us have been caught short of time, money, or love because we waited for what we thought would be the perfect time further down the road. It is important not to wait to be happy. We can be happy right now. Even if we are sitting in a pile of ‘circumstances’ the happiness is only a choice away for it is not our circumstances that matter, it is how we view them, and the way we view them is what generates our reality.

There are plenty of people with perfect health and pile of money who feel empty and alone, and there are those who have lost what would be judged as everything to cancer or a fire, and still they consider themselves to be the richest person in the world. Having more does not guarantee happiness. Being present is the present.

Your happiness is not dependent on having ‘more’. It requires knowing only that you are enough. A SHORTCUT TO HAPPINESS: Today, I don’t wait to be happy. Regardless of the magnitude of my circumstances, I find some reason to be happy now. I pick up the phone and call that person who is on my mind that I haven’t spoken to in forever. I forgive the grudge I hold toward a person by whom I feel I have been wronged. I take the vacation I have dreamed about rather than wait until I retire someday.