Love the place you’re at! I’m sitting at my kitchen table with a coffee in my hand, and the sun is shining down on me through the windows. With the first sip of my coffee, I realize how much I love my place. I am happy here. I am content. If you can’t love the place you’re at, whether it is a physical place or a point in your life, then you are not present. If you are not present, you can’t be at peace. There is a difference between thinking of tomorrow or yesterday and being attached to tomorrow or yesterday. The first one is a visit, the second one an escape.
Escaping the present moment causes unrest within yourself. You cannot be still when you are running or holding on to something. The running causes stress, anxiety, and discontent, the holding on causes pain, resentment, and loneliness. Living in the past can be lonely. It can be painful, and you start to resent yourself. Living in the future can be exhausting. The need to catch up over and over again. Finishing one thing and starting the next one. No pause. No acknowledgment. No satisfaction.
Have you attached yourself to what might happen tomorrow or to what did happen yesterday? Let it go. Allow yourself to be happy, to be content, and pause. Look at the beauty around you and tell me what makes you happy, right here, right now. I am not saying don’t think about the future or the past. I am saying don’t depend on it. Don’t replace the present with it. Visit instead. When thinking about your longings and desires or future plans, come back to the present moment and tell yourself I create my future today. Listen to your inner guidance for the next steps, something you can do today, something you can focus on in this very moment. When you are thinking about regrets and hurts from the past, come back to the present moment and tell yourself the past is over and done with. I am willing to let go. I am willing to heal.
There is a reason if you don’t want to be present if you can’t stop thinking about tomorrow or yesterday. What are you running from, my friend? What are you chasing after? What are you holding on to? Whatever it is. Let go. Come back. Stop avoiding the moment. You are only avoiding yourself. Accept what is. Accept what was. Accept yourself. This is not about accomplishments or possessions. It is about you - all parts of you. There is nothing missing. You are perfect exactly as you are. Look at the beauty inside yourself and tell me what makes you happy, right here, right now?