Here and Now

I received this via email the other day and wanted to share it with all of you:

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Be aware of yourself and validate your experience. Pay attention to your world, to what's happening, and why. . . . Feel your strength. Value it, and use it.
--Alexandra G. Kaplan

"To truly exist in the here and now, we need to feel ourselves in the present. We need to enter each moment without the excess baggage of the past, nor the anticipation of the future.

How do we think or feel in the present? Take away thoughts of other times and we may feel lost and confused. It takes time to learn to live in the present and to trust it. We need to learn that, for as long as we're in the present, we exist. We are.

Imagine the moment as a brand new car. All we need to do is open the door, hop in, and drive away. For that moment, our thoughts will not be focused on cars we used to own or on those we're going to buy in the future. Instead, for that moment, we are in the here and now. That's how each of our moments can be: fresh and clean and exciting."

Thought for Today: "I can sit in the driver's seat and experience each moment as it occurs. Therein lies my strength."

source: www.Hazelden.org (Today's Gift Meditation for 11/30/07)

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This is such an important concept. I used to live regretting my past (in depression) and fearing the future (anxiety). We have to learn to let go of the the past. We can't go back in time and change what happened, but we can transcend our past by changing what it means to us. Even our most painful moments can become our greatest sources of wisdom if we choose to see them that way. It is a choice.

peace, hope and love,

Lily