Can we change what happened a moment ago? Can we control what is going to happen a moment from now? All we can control is the way we react with what happens. What I am doing right at this moment, what is going on right now and, better yet, what I choose to feel at this moment, regardless of everything else that may be going on, is all I can control. It is a matter of choice.
We are great at blaming other people for the way they make us feel, but do they really make us feel a certain way, or do we choose to feel a certain way? Have we ever given that any thought? Why is it so necessary for us to take everything so personal? Why does everything have to be about us? When we are angry and yell at someone, or even say something to hurt someone, are we purposely trying to hurt that person, or are we just allowing our emotions at that moment to control the way we react? Is it about someone else, or is it about us? It is never about the other person; it is always about the way we are feeling at that moment and about our willingness to either deal or not deal with those feelings.
We are so used to having our thoughts control us. How often are we doing something and are totally thinking about something else? Why is it so difficult for us to just focus our attention on the present moment? We allow our thoughts to take us to live in the future, to how a particular situation is going to turn out, how we are going to handle it, what we are going to say, how the people around us are going to react. In our minds, we play that particular situation in every possible and impossible way. However, all we are doing is living a future experience that may never even happen.
Better yet, we take a situation that already happened and play it in our minds a million different ways. We start to feel guilty, frustrated, happy, or sad. We even pretend to know how other people felt about it. Can we change what happened? Do we really know how other people felt or why they reacted the way they did?
How about if we just understand that we cannot change what happened or what is going to happen. All we can do is deal with it in the best way we know how. How about if we just stop thinking about the situation and focus on the present moment, which is, in reality, all we have. At the present moment, there are no problems; there are no issues; it is simply right now.
Have you ever tried quieting your mind, stopping all that self-talk and the million other voices going on, and just simply pay attention to whatever it is that you are doing? There is no greater power than experiencing this moment and knowing, without a doubt, that everything is just perfect.
Ask yourself constantly what you are thinking right now. What is going on inside you? Where are you? You will find that as you start to pay attention to your thoughts and you learn to quiet your inner dialogue, you will enjoy more and more the present moment. You will learn to be more appreciative of everything that is going on in your life. You will find yourself giving thanks more often for experiencing the little things in life, that most of the time we do not see because we are so busy giving our attention to the past or to the future. We learn to enjoy the beauty of a smile, the magic of a flower, the sound of the ocean, a great meal, the love of our children, the joy of our friends, the blessings of our partners, the gifts other people bring to us, the teachings of every experience. We learn to slow down, appreciate every one and everything in our lives for, we learn to practice the art of gratitude.
How often do we tell someone what he or she really means to us? How often do we say that we truly appreciate someone and what that someone has brought to your life? How often do we give thanks for everything that has happened to us in life? Had it not been for this someone, and others in our lives and the experiences, we may not be whom we are today!
