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Finding joy in the present
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
A lot can be said about the present moment. It’s where we live. It’s where we create. It’s where everything happens. Everything that happened in the past happened in the present moment. Everything that will happen in the future will happen in the present moment. There is no escaping the present moment while we are alive and fully conscious. That being said, we are in control of how we feel in every waking moment. We determine whether we are happy, sad or somewhere in between. We may not always have a reason to be in a good mood, but it is usually our fault when we are not.
Life is always going to create reasons for us to be upset. Things don’t always go our way. We get mistreated. Sometimes life will hand us a bag of lemons. We choose how to respond. There are times where we are going to get upset, and rightfully so. We cannot and should not ignore our feelings. We also have to choose how we respond to those feelings. It is healthy to address our feelings and how they make us feel. The key is to not get stuck in a pattern of negative emotions that prevent us from being able to move on.
Sometimes, especially when life seems to be affecting us negatively, we may feel the need to retreat and throw a self-pity party…
