The Power of Living in the Now

One of my sisters gave me Wayne Dyer's "Excuses Begone" CD set after finding it at a local consignment shop, and I've been listening to it while driving to work and back this week. It couldn't have come at a better time -- as much as I was able to let go of most of it, for the past few weeks I've found myself still harboring negative feelings and resentment about one particular incident. Still thinking about things that were said in email and over the phone and still wondering why I attracted such a thing that ended up hurting me. 

Then I started listening to Dyer's "Excuses Begone", and one of the chapters is about something I haven't really been doing much of lately: living in the present moment, living in the now. This past incident was still niggling at me and also causing a bit of anxiety about the future, as I didn't want to attract a repeat of it with another person. 

Once I was reminded that I needed to focus on the now moment and make the most of it throughout the day, and every day, I could feel myself become instantly grounded again. It felt like relief, to be honest, and like something bigger than me was taking the reins and that I shouldn't have to worry so much about this one particular area of my life. I felt like I was reconnecting to "Source." 

As Dyer reminded me, when we live in the now anything that happened in the past simply has no bearing on us, nor does the future. The past is over and done with -- and no amount of ruminating on what could have possibly have been done to make circumstances turn out differently isn't going to change anything. It's done. What we can do -- as the chapter continued -- is find appreciation for what we have and where we're at during any present moment. That's exactly what I did today. I can't change anything that happened last summer, but I have learned from my mistakes, and found myself appreciating my life for where it is this year, and right now. Because things have been improving and getting a lot better. There's a lot to be grateful for.