I woke up this morning and it was a typical Sunday. I slept in until about 8 (which is late for me), had my morning coffee, fed my social media addiction, and went to pick up the girls. This is how Sundays go in our little world. Some days we head straight to lunch or maybe the grocery store. We find ways to play as well as be slightly productive. I get many hugs and smiles after they've been gone. I love that part. The last few weeks have been filled with girl scout commitments, mostly revolving around cookies. I have the same love hate relationship with Sundays that I assume most people do...  I love today, but dread tomorrow.
So I woke up this morning and it was a normal day. As I drove the 30 minutes it takes to pick up my children I had a talk with myself, God, nature, whoever was listening. My discussion had a simple message, what do I want to happen next in my life and what have I done to get where I am... all fact (well, fact as it is based on my perspective... MY fact.)

Buddha said "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

Sound easy? Are you kidding? Our past looms over us like that giant gray cloud the sits high in the sky with blue all around and underneath. It's not likely to create any real havoc and it will eventually blow away, but it doesn't allow the sun in either. And the future... well the future is surely a scary dark abyss where you will repeat all the same mistakes over and over until you get it right, and you know you are never going to get it right. So of course it makes much more sense to dwell in the past or worry over the present.... it's so much fun!
But we do it. We all do it. I am the absolute worst. And the real issue with the present I think is that everything is fine. I truly believe our outside perceptions of life's events are much more dramatic than the reality of the moment in which they actually happen. So when everything is going seemingly well we are waiting for the next shoe to drop. We are scared when nothing is wrong. It is then that we look to the past to see what has ruined moments exactly like this before or we look into the void that is the future to remind ourselves that we have no control over what could happen. That of course sends us into a panic. The past is gone, it is dust, it is vapor. And the future is truly a void. It doesn't exist. It never exists. At the moment it begins to exist it becomes the present. Think about that. You have no real proof that the future will ever happen until it gets here.

I know I'm rambling, as I often do, so I'm going to try to come back around to my thought process. As I was thinking and talking about all the things I wanted to happen in my life I started thinking about how you achieve these things. We've heard it all right? Karma... what goes around comes around. Or what will be will be, it's written in the stars, what's meant to be will be. And then there is the school of "life is what you make it."
So what is it? How do we figure out how to get to where we want to be. What path do we take, what decisions do we make. Do we wait for what will be or do we fight for a future outcome?
Well I've been thinking fairly deeply about this (in fact it's actually now Tuesday) and I have to believe as hard as this whole live in the moment thing is, Buddha must have been on to something. Because if we get up and deal with just what we can for just this second then we move on to the next second, and breathe in between then you never have more than you can handle. And if we sink into each smell and taste with our whole body and mind, not allowing to be distracted by moments that no longer exist, then we are allowing ourselves to enjoy the best of life. The exact moment of the kiss, the baby giggle, the sunset, if we are all in it, all there, the past and future won't hold the power over us any longer.

I woke up this morning.... and I began to step forward. And I will do it again tomorrow.