Living in the today

We're often told that we should live each day as if it were our last, for me though, it's even more simple than that. It's about living in the today, rather than waiting for tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely having things to look forward to and goals to work towards. But it's all too easy to spend far too much time waiting for things.

In many ways, I've spent much of my life doing that, even as a child; waiting for Christmas, waiting for birthdays, waiting for holidays. Often with these things though, the anticipation of something is as good as (or sometimes even better) as the thing that you're waiting for. No matter how much you want something for Christmas, the brightly wrapped parcel is always more exciting than the actual thing. (Apart from maybe my kindle, that was just as exciting once I'd opened it.)

These days I find myself thinking things like, 'it will be so nice once the bathroom is refitted' or 'in a year or so we might get the garden sorted and won't that be lovely' and the classic 'I can't wait to go home to the UK and see everyone'. All of that is fine of course, there's no reason why you shouldn't look forward to things, but the problem is, that often when you are looking forward to something, you loose sight of what is happening now.

The problem is that not only do we not know what's around the corner and if these things that we're looking forward to ever happen, but also while we're waiting for something we don't really appreciate what is happening in the hear and now. Blink and you'll miss the break-a-neck speed your children are growing up at.

Stop to enjoy the view; enjoy the journey.

To look at it in a slightly different way, how many times have you read a book that you just can't put down? You have to keep reading, trying to find out what's going to happen and how it's going to end, but of course once you get there, there's that horrible empty feeling because it's all over. Try as I might I can't make those books go slower, and enjoy every word. (I'm a greedy reader, I have to know it all now.) But I don't want life to be the same, yes there are lots of things to look forward to, but I'm going to make a real effort to really enjoy the journey, make sure that I'm living in the today.