“The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now.” ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Dear Past Me,
Remember that day when you thought all was lost? When you thought there was barely any point in carrying on?
The bank account was dangerously low.
You were arguing with everyone close to you.
The roof was leaking.
It felt like everything was a struggle and the so-called abundance of the Universe was nowhere to be seen.
You were going over the mistakes you’d made.
The money you had lost.
The opportunities you had missed.
You were going over angry conversations and thinking about how right you were and how wrong they were.
You were searching for forgiveness but holding onto the unfairness of it all.
Remember how low you felt?
You actually spent more time than you care to admit wishing you didn’t exist.
You thought at least that way, nobody would miss you and you wouldn’t cause them any pain if you had never existed.
Dude.
Seriously?
You do realize now that you wasted a bit of time with that ridiculousness, right?
You wished for a lightning bolt of awareness to hit you in the head.
You were hoping for a finely tuned droplet of self-aware genius to magically transform your heart.
The Universe provided because in the next few moments, you read this:
The average person lives to be 76 years of age, which is approximately 28,000 days.
28,000 days.
That’s when it hit you.
Every day is truly precious.
Months seemed to come and go.
Years flew by.
But days. Days were made up of habits.
You woke up to your own habits at that point.
How much time had you wasted drifting into jealousy?
How many hours had been lost sinking with regret or crying over disappointment?
If you added up the hours you’d filled with worry, regret, anger, sorrow, and guilt, how many days would it equal?
It was terrifying to even consider.
You shifted.
You found three ways to live in each day that have changed you forever.
1. You are not your feelings.
When anger or hurt hits your heart like a ton of bricks on a hot summer day, it can feel like it consumes you.
The more you resist, the more you fight it, the bigger it gets.
Allow the pain to be there. Talk to it. Realize that you are the witness that is doing the talking.
2. Meditation.
It seems like everyone talks about meditating.
Once you made it a non-negotiable part of your life, everything else shifted for you.
Think of it like brushing your teeth or taking a shower.
You can sit quietly anywhere. In your car. At your desk. Just close your eyes and breathe.
It will help you to be in the day.
3. Forgiveness.
As much as you’re struggling with your own crapola, everyone else is going through his or her own lessons as well.
As soon as you leaned into forgiveness, you felt better.
You stopped resisting.
Forgiveness gives you flow.
And when you flow, BOOM—you’re in the present moment again.
I want you to wake up to what you have right now!
I want you to know that no matter what, today is beautiful.
It doesn’t matter if it’s pouring rain, pounding snow, or penetrating sunshine.
Weather is neither good nor bad. It just is.
Today is what you make it and I want you know that here and now, in this future moment that I’m writing you from, love is the only thing that lasts.
Whether your current moment is filled with sorrow or bursting with joy, this too shall pass.
Find ways to make today into a beautiful painting of kindness toward yourself and toward others and you will reach the end of your 28,000 days with a knowingness that you lived well.
What day is it today?
It’s the best day ever.
Love,
Future Me
Future Me
