Don’t Wait—Every Moment is Special
This moment.
It is round,
it hangs in empty space like a little diamond;
I am eternal.
~ Jean-Paul Sartre
Looking, waiting, and wondering.
Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?
It’s a very common thing to constantly be looking forward to, planning for, or thinking about something coming up.
There often seems to an implicit assumption that the future will be, in some way, better than now. But the truth is that the light at the end of the tunnel is overrated. It always looks better than it is, and it never quite arrives.
The trick is to make the tunnel our own. With the right perspective, the tunnel itself can become the light.
For many people, life is a series of glorious moments – things we look forward to or remember fondly – with long periods of waiting in between.
What makes these moments seem so special? What are the characteristics of these times we look forward to? A more important question might be, “What is missing from the in-between times?”
Is it possible to look forward to each day? Can every day become “glorious”?
The answer to this question depends partly on our attitude and partly on how we live our lives. Why are some parts of our lives boring, lonely, or commonplace? What if we could make our whole life glorious?
Anyone can do this, but it takes practice and initiative. We all have opportunities for glorious moments each time we come across someone new, hear about something new to us, see something beautiful, or even get a few minutes to ourselves. We can pause, reflect, and take the time to recognize what is glorious about each moment.
We all experience this every day. The challenge is to recognize these moments as opportunities and take full advantage of them – recognize them as special moments that should be cherished.
Our attitude (being open to the potential for excitement in each moment) and how we live our lives (having the initiative to take advantage of those moments) will go a long way toward increasing the proportion of our lives that is glorious.
We shouldn’t waste our lives waiting for the glorious moment next week, or next summer, or next year. There is magic happening around us all the time.
Look up. There is magic right in front of you right now.
Boredom (see Boredom) is the enemy. There is never any reason to be bored – it’s up to us to keep this unsavory character at arm’s length. Don’t let him in. Tell him to get lost! Boredom exists because of his close friend Laziness. If we’re bored, we’re just not trying. Look around you.
- What do you see that you’ve never seen before?
- What are the people you see doing? Are they happy? What are their moods? How do you think their day is going?
- What’s the weather like? Are you comfortable? Is there a storm coming? Is it a beautiful day?
- What is a beautiful day?
- What plants do you see? Do you know what they’re called?
- What’s the most beautiful thing you see right now?
When we are truly exploring and trying to understand a moment in time, it’s always extremely exciting, enlightening, and yes, beautiful. There’s always something (or someone). Trust me – we just have to pay attention.
Another reason people look forward to the future is because a situation they’re in is maybe not all it could be. Maybe they’re overwhelmed. Maybe they’re forced to be with people that they don’t want to be around. Understanding the negative aspects of a moment can be as useful as understanding the positive ones.
People or circumstances can only have a negative impact on us if we let them. It’s our choice.
Try to examine the negative aspects of any moment as you would the positive aspects.
Why do you characterize them as negative?
Why is the overbearing, irritating, or nasty person overbearing, irritating, or nasty? Do you know? In what ways do they affect you?
Life is too short to let someone like that get to you, so don’t. Train yourself to not let them into your psyche. It’s an exclusive club, and they’re not invited. Your psyche is yours and yours alone.
Our time – all of it – is an extremely valuable commodity. We can’t let anyone, including ourselves, take anything away from it.
It’s ours, and it’s up to us to make it wonderful.
