Live In The Moment

My buddies on Facebook have been uploading photos of our teenage years, and wow, the memories just start flooding back to you.  As I was looking at these photos, of trips to youth camp, trips to slide rock, and just us goofing all night at our best friend's house a realization hit me.  Those really WERE the best days of my life.  Not that I don't love where I'm at right now, but wow, I never realized then just how much fun I was having.

I spent so much of my youth mopey, depressed, worried about boys and stupid stuff that was so trivial and didn't matter.  I let these things get in the way of how much fun I really could have been having.  As I look back now, I don't remember which guy broke my heart, or which friend was pissing me off that day, I remember the good times we had, and the fun we had in each moment, that is what you take with you.

That being said, I STILL do this to this day.  I never live in the moment, I'm constantly trying to get to the next moment, and I don't realize the joy that is happening all around me.  I worry about stupid stuff and make myself miserable in every situation.   If I only had this I would be happy....well then I get that and I'm still NOT satisfied...If I can only do this THEN I will be content.  If I continue in this reckless pattern my life will have flashed by me and I will have missed out on what is truly important, and that is living in the moment.  

If I could learn to live in the moment, I wouldn't worry about tomorrow.  I would not worry if the house was clean or the dishes were done.  I wouldn't be thinking about having to go to school next week, or getting the laundry done.  This is not to say let everything go, but if I learned to live in the moment, I'd drop that laundry basket for thirty minutes and wrestle in the living room with my kids.  If I could learn to live in the moment, I wouldn't worry if the kids spill koolaid on the carpet because they are only little for such a brief time.  

“Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going”

-Tennessee Williams