GRATITUDE MONTH: DAY 20: “Although time seems to fly, it never travels faster than one day at a time. Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest. In each waking day, you will find scores of blessings and opportunities for positive change. Do not let your TODAY be stolen by the unchangeable past or the indefinite future! Today is a new day!” ― Steve Maraboli
We can only live today. That “One day at a time” saying was so confusing at first, at least for me. I am a planner, a mapper, a list maker, a controlling personality. Most of us with backgrounds of trauma are like that. Living one day at a time seemed rather risky, as I saw it.
I have learned since that time what that truly means. I can still make plans, but I don’t sit and wait for life to unfold according to my plans. There are so many disappointments that turn into resentment when we do that.
Living one day at a time keeps me focused more mindfully on this day and its gifts. There are so many! I am kind of a spoiled brat, though. When I am not spiritually fit, I want reassurance, some kind of guarantees, some kind of promise (from God?) that I am going to be okay tomorrow too. Haha! And I get to work with many folks who want the same thing.
That is not going to happen. Every spiritual tradition I am familiar with has a basic tenet that leads us to this same premise. Live NOW, let go of the past, and let the future unfold as it will. When we stop trying to direct the traffic of the Universe to suit our own little baby needs, we are going to be much happier and healthier. Less stress, less worry, less of all those things that take up time and do not have any good outcome potentiality.
And what fun it is to pay attention to what I am doing, even when it seems dull, uninteresting or boring to others. I have a lot of fun doing things that may not interest anyone else, but they thrill me. Simple things bring me to gratitude. I am not in need of expensive trips, large outlays of money for food or anything else. I like simple. I love simple. I can see the reason that is believed to be the higher road to spiritual fulfillment. To let go of all the outside attachments and their ensuing problems.
I have lived differently for many years of my life. There was a time when I had to have a great deal of “stuff” to be okay and feel successful and safe. I had to drink and use drugs. It did not feed my spirit or my heart. Today my heart is full and happy, with so little! Not much to take care of or keep up with.
How wonderful to be content with my life, to be adequate within myself, to be settled and at peace with the world around me. I have so few things that take my mind away from this moment and this moment and this moment.
The cares of the world do not sit, today, on my shoulders. I have no answers and no questions for anyone in this perfect moment. That is the thing I drank and used drugs to receive. It has finally come! For that, I am always and eternally grateful!
Dolphin Hug 