MOMENTS

There is a time when a problem is big enough to see but small enough to solve.

Things that matter are just below the surface of our everyday thoughts and activities. We tend to go through life absent mindedly, however, with little or no attention to things that matter. But you can bring them up to the surface by spending time with yourself in the moment you're living right now.

The here and now is neither a bridge nor a stepping-stone to the next moment. It's a destination, and you've just arrived. A kind of forever that you ride like a wave moving toward the shore in an ocean of time. But on that wave time has stopped. The history of your life has been captured and freeze-framed so you can reflect and contemplate where your life has been and where you want it to go.

Find somewhere you won't be disturbed. At the beach, in the woods or at home. Somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of life. Look out your window. Watch the leaves flutter on that tree you planted years ago. Watch the ripples on a lake become waves kissing the shore. Touch a leaf, smell a flower, taste the wind. Reflect on what yesterday has taught you about things that matter. Contemplate how you might apply those things to your life now. Remind yourself that Dreams are easier to find and follow if you give up your need for approval and your fear of failure. Read the Disiderata again and let it speak to your heart and your mind.

Before you leave, find something you can put in your pocket—a pebble, a shell, a feather. Call it your touchstone. Take it home. Every time you feel like a prisoner of your own thoughts, a role you are playing, a mask you are wearing, the busyness of life or somebody else's expectations, let your touchstone take you back to your special place, the person you really are, the one drawn to peace and solitude, the one filled with awe and wonder, the one moved by love and courage, the one who says "Yes!" to life by being present in the here and now to experience it, the one free to let every moment speak for itself.

Let your touchstone be an anchor in the sea of chaos and confusion of your busy, everyday life. Let it end the contradictions between what you say, do, think, believe and know. Let it remind you of the deep connections you have with your friends and the positive impact they have had on your life. Let it show you the difference between being lonely and being alone. Let it motivate you to stop camping on the same old spot and start traveling a path with heart.

Let it motivate you to pay attention to the little things in life that really matter. Your cat purring when you stroke it's chin. Your dog wagging its tail when it greets you at the door. That Zippity-Doo-Dah feeling when you wake up in the morning and know it's going be a lovely day. That spring in your step when your body is happy and wants your head to know it. That kiss you get from the love of your life before you leave the house to face the day. That hug you get from a friend when poop has hit the fan on a rainy day.

Happiness is like moonshine. Make our own and you'll never run out. We are as happy as we want to be. And I want to be. How about you?