joy and gratitude, living in the present

I have a bad habit of looking forward to the future rather than focusing on the present.  I'm always pretty excited about what's coming up in my life, but I seem to have a hard time being excited about the day I'm actually living in.

The last few weeks I've been working especially hard on changing this, and it has been FANTASTIC.  It was hard at first (changing behaviors is always hard) but I'm getting better.

I had a great conversation with my aunt about learning to love the present, and to live in the present, without letting thoughts constantly wander, or thinking about what you're going to do when you finish what you're currently doing.

The trick is to stop thinking about finishing tasks, but to start embracing each moment and finding joy.  I've realized we can find joy in just about anything. If we're washing dishes, we can love that we have hands to do things!  We can love feeling bubbly dish-soap between our fingers.

I know every moment isn't gonna be peachy.  We can't find joy in every thing. There are times to grief, times to feel hurt, and times to really dislike that one school assignment that we just can't seem to wrap our minds around.  But I do believe we can find joy in most things, even the mundane things in life--and I think the happiest people have mastered this trick.

THE STATION

by Robert J. Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see 
ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We're
 traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing
 scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of 
cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant,
 of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains 
and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting 
spring and docile fall.



But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a
certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, 
and flags waving. And once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come
true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives will
finally be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.

How 
restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering...waiting,
waiting, waiting, for the station.  

However, sooner or later we must realize…The true joy of life is the trip. The 
station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.



“When we reach the station, that will be it!" we cry. Translated it means,
 "When I'm 18, that will be it! When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that
 will be it! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it! When
 I have paid off the mortgage, that will be it! When I win a promotion, that
 will be it! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it! I shall 
live happily ever after!"



Unfortunately, once we get It, then It disappears. The station somehow 
hides itself at the end of an endless track.



"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 
118:24: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be
 glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it
 is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin 
thieves who would rob us of today.



So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more 
mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, 
watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go 
along. The station will come soon enough.