The holiday season is well underway and somewhere amongst shopping for gifts for your loved ones, treat yourself to the perfect present. Folks, the perfect present is the gift that continues to give all year long.
No, I’m not trying to sell you a membership to the Cheese-of-the-Month Club. By the perfect present I refer to making the choice to live your life in the now, fully experiencing and celebrating the present moment. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and it’s cheaper than a Chia Pet.
Why would you want to spend your life living more in the present? Consider that 99% of the negative feelings you experience are the result of dwelling on your past or worrying about the future. When your thoughts revert to your past problems and mistakes, your ability to make good decisions becomes clouded by what WAS while simultaneously obscuring the truth and goodness of what IS.
When focusing on the future, your mind fills with unanswerable questions. What will happen? What should I be doing? Will I ever get to where I want to be? What if…? Your inability to answer these questions lead to feelings of anxiety and frustration that keep you from living in the present.
If we live our lives continually driving toward the future, racing toward some finish line we’ve created in our minds, the possibilities of the present whoosh past unnoticed. Opportunities do not occur in the past or future, they always occur in the present moment. Miss them and they are gone.
One effective method of living more presently and being open to the opportunity around you is to reduce the degree of planning in your life. I know, I know. Seems unthinkable to lots of folks. And while I acknowledge that it can be beneficial to visualize the future (and remember the past) from time to time, at least 90% of our lives needs to be experienced in the present. Planning is always about the future, right?
I notice that whenever I plan I create a picture in my head of the way things are supposed to be. And when they are not the way they “should be” I feel as though something’s wrong; something needs fixing. I get anxious. Because I have an expectation that’s not being met, I now have a problem. There’s less peace.
When I allow myself to operate without a plan, I open myself up to the limitless possibilities of the moment. The less I plan, commit, or promise, the more I am able to see and respond to what the universe places in my path in the moment. Life flows. The truth is that when I just act in the present, things tend to work out for me much, much better than anything I could have planned. Really.
From an attraction standpoint (the notion that like attracts like), living in the moment makes perfect sense. Being present allows us appreciate the wonder and preciousness of being alive. While experiencing the feelings of gratitude associated with this fantastic gift, we’re sending out positive feelings to the universe. As it always does, the universe responds to us in kind. And when we are feeling good, we attract more of what we really want into our lives.
So how can the present be “perfect” when at times the now feels anything but perfect? The present perfectly reflects of all of your past thoughts, decisions, and actions. If you do not feel good in the moment, the present provides you with a clear direction of where you most need to make a change in your life. Perfect, huh?
In fact, being present creates the only environment where we constantly have the opportunity to live better every single moment of our lives. Consider what usually happens when we embark on a major transition, such as getting out of debt, quitting smoking, or exercising regularly. When attempting this sort of change, our efforts are quickly thwarted when we become overwhelmed with future-oriented thinking, questioning how we will ever maintain our efforts over time.
When we live in the present, only the choices we make today matter. This makes any transition more manageable. And should we fall, we can immediately begin anew.
The truth is that the present is all that we really have. I mean, have you ever thought, experienced, or acted outside of the now? Didn’t think so.
Finally, since tomorrow will never be promised to any of us, I urge you to give yourself this gift of the perfect present today and every day.