How To Enjoy The Moment

I remember a friend of mine kept a sign on his desk that helped him maintain the right perspective concerning yesterday. It simply said, "Yesterday Ended Last Night." It reminded him that no matter how badly he might have failed in the past, it's done, and today is a new day.

It’s easy it is to be bogged down by the regrets of yesterday, and to be immobilized by the uncertainties of tomorrow, as we go through the day alternating between "Why did that have to happen yesterday?" and "What if I can't handle what happens tomorrow?"

Let me suggest that neither your regrets or your fears have anything to do with what really matters: the remaining hours of this day. Each day has enough trouble of its own, Jesus said. No point in worrying about tomorrow when today's plate is already full -- with trouble, yes, and opportunity, too. And so much potential.

I want to encourage you to decide today that you will give no weight to what's already gone, that you will spend no emotional energy on what is yet to arrive. Instead, invest everything you have today in today. It makes this day a whole better, and tomorrow a whole lot brighter.

The key to success is in doing things in order of their importance. Each day my challenge is to determine the 5 most important tasks and do them one by one. I'm not always successful but tomorrow's a new day.

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

An Inside Job

True happiness and success is very difficult to attract if you don’t know what you want from life. I specifically used the word “attract” because happiness and success are not things that you pursue, they are things that you attract into your life by becoming a specific kind of person. A person who walks in contentment.

If you have become the person that attracts happiness, you’ll be able to be content, no matter where in the world you are because your happiness is not dependent on your current situation.
If you have become the person that attracts success, you’ll be able to be content with all your endeavours. Your success is not entirely dependent on your current business or idea.

The problem seems to be that the majority of us feel lost, confused and are without a sense of purpose. We have no direction in our lives and seem to be floating about aimlessly. Going from relationship to relationship, job to job, day to day, seeking happiness in material possessions.

If you (or someone you know) are unhappy with life, could it be because you don’t have a direction or sense of purpose in life? Every single action you take and every bit of energy you spend should be contributing towards achieving your goals in life.

The kind of goals I’m referring to don’t have to be material gain or even some sort of measurable achievement. A goal can be something as simple as living a life full of love and happiness with friends and family. A goal is something that makes your life worth living.

Happiness is not something you pursue. It’s something you attract. You attract happiness by stopping to look for it in people, or situations. By caring for others. Once you learn to be content simply by being alive, by breathing, by being you, and by being thankful for what you’ve got…that’s when happiness will start coming to you in other areas of your life too.

I’m reminded of a passage in the Bible where Paul says...

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12) Paul had a connection with God and thus direction that led to his contentment.

There’s no denying that you can experience fantastic happiness in relationships, your passions and your successes. However, if you base your contentment on these things it will be one big roller-coaster of ups and downs. If you’re able to achieve contentment from within yourself, based purely on the fact that you’re alive, then external sources can amplify your happiness but never truly take it away.

True Happiness is an inside job.