We exist only in this moment. Only this moment is real.

Past and future do not exist. The future is a yet un-experienced series of moments.  The past is just a story we tell ourselves about the individual moments we have already lived through. The past is how we explain our experiences to ourselves.

I find that thought extremely comforting, because all anxiety, all stress disappears. Stress happens because I expect the future to bring me more difficulties, or because I regret some experience from the past.  By focusing all my energies on living this moment, all else fades to the back of my mind. I don’t need to explain to myself why I am doing this. My life is just this moment.

All I can say, at this point,  is that I will have experiences in the future. Even my own death will be an experience. The experiences will be neither good nor bad for me. I will live through them just as I have the experiences of the past, in that moment. If I choose to interpret them as bad, then that is what they will be. If I choose to explain them to myself as positive then that is the effect they will have on me.

We become the words we speak to ourselves. We believe that what we say to ourselves is true. How and what we tell ourselves about us, our self, we believe is true.

If we believe that we can not do something, then we will not only not do it, but we will avoid any action that would make us test our beliefs.

For example, you fear public speaking, so would do it in spite of your fear? Since it is your believe that you can not speak in public, you are not prepared to change that belief because it would prove your belief wrong. And, then what else would change?

How and what we say to ourselves about our self and the world around us forms our belief system. We use our belief system to filter whatever the world gives us and to decide what actions we are going to take.

That belief system becomes like a brick wall through which we cannot go, even though with some effort we can actually climb over it.

A belief is a figment of your imagination. It is an idea that you have chosen to believe. No matter what your experience, if you do not plan to succeed you will never succeed. If you start to do something with the idea that you can not succeed because you believe yourself too weak or destined to fail, then you can not succeed.

Your words, the words you choose to tell yourself are going to limit you.

On the other hand, there are no guarantees that success will be what you define it as. Your expectations of what you want to experience may be different from what you actually experience.

Do what you intend to do, but appreciate what you actually experience. Don’t try to make life into the image of your expectations.

This is what the promoters of the “Law of attraction”  fail to tell you. Maybe your life will unfold exactly as you dreamed it, but more likely life will unfold and you will have some experience. You need to appreciate each moment on the journey.

Once you have completed the journey, only then can you determine if you have reached the goal you set for yourself. You did set a specific goal didn’t you? Then look back an appreciate what you have accomplished.

As humans we anticipate our future, we are quick to judgement, we make assumptions. That is how our minds work. No matter how much information we get at some point we have to make the decisions for ourselves. We have to direct ourselves to take that first step, to take the action necessary.

When we realize that we only need to get through this moment, and each moment as we move to what we intend for ourselves, and appreciating each moment, each breath we take, each caress we give, each word of encouragement, giving as much as we receive, we become more focused on the joy that is.

Often we react to someone else’s actions.  In order to be aware that something about another person annoys us, we have to observe their behaviour. That means that we are interpreting their actions.

You are relating their behaviour to your expectations, your beliefs that they should behave in a certain way, that you determine. You are facing backwards instead of living in the moment.

Leave your interpretation of the past to some idle moment. Only then, do it consciously realizing that you are making up a story to explain your experiences. Also realize that as you live each new moment, you will also be adding to and changing the story based on what you are living at this moment. The past is nothing if not a slippery slope.

Only you can choose the way you look at the world. Only you can choose to write your interpretation of life. You can choose to hide from the reality. You can choose not speak to someone because they do not believe or do as you say.

You choose the story. You add the drama. You add the struggles. You add the suffering. You add the pain. It is your story. Your words. Your mind.

We go about our lives as though we are in control, then get frustrated by things not turning out the way we expect them to.

Why can’t we be as successful  as that person? Why can’t our lives be as wonderful as that movie personality?

When we are thoughtful. we realize that we cannot control the world or even others that are in our immediate environment. The only person we can control is ourselves and how we choose to think about what is going on around us.

It takes a lot of courage to move ...<< MORE >>

Your mind is a tool not a dictator.

When were children we accepted thoughts as coming un-bid into our minds. And it is true that memories are evoked by the actions you are taking right now.

So many try to justify their actions by blaming them on passed events.  We are lenient on criminals because of their upbringing. We hold back telling a friend bad news because they have had such a hard life. We are selfish with our friends because we didn't get enough love as children.

As adults we recognize that we are fully responsible ...<< MORE >>

We often hear of the press putting a spin on an event or finding the right angle for a story.

When something happens the press want to report on those stories that will most catch our attention. And, it must have a story, a sense of drama that remains with us and encourages us to read on and follow developments each day.

What is a story and how do you make it dramatic?

Let's begin with words. A word is a symbol for the real thing. A symbol not the real thing. So we can easily string words together to ...<< MORE >>

You're walking down the street one day and a perfect stranger walks by. As you pass him, he looks you straight in the eye and smiles.

"What a wicked smile!", you think to yourself.

You draw your own conclusions.

The facts are simply a stranger walking by looks at you and smiles. Yet, in your mind you have to answer why. You have to give it a meaning that is compatible with your beliefs. You have to interpret the events.

You are playing in a singing circle and one of the players is sitting looking at you intently.

All experience is memory and we are constantly revising those memories based on new experience.

One moment after you have lived an experience, it becomes a memory. And, revisiting a memory at any time, causes some change to it. You are looking back with today's eyes. And, that look back paints the memory a different colour.

All behaviour is subjective and unique to ourselves. And, it all depends on your choice of words. I say I am being objective, you say I'm not being objective enough. And it's all subjective.

Memories are in your mind.  You are the ...<< MORE >>

Your happiness is your responsibility.

Happiness comes from appreciating what you are and what you have, accepting life as it is and focusing your expectations on yourself not the world around you.

We are a materialistic society. Many of us just want things, stuff as though getting more stuff will ever satisfy us. It is happiness we are looking for.

Yet how many of us ever stop to think that we are responsible for our own happiness? Happiness is not something we discover under a rock somewhere.

Happiness is Joy in the Moment.  Happiness is appreciating a breath of ...<< MORE >>

Michael J. Fox, despite his Parkinson's disease has learned that happiness increases directly with acceptance and decreases directly with expectations.

If someone with a terrible condition as Parkinson's disease can learn to accept life as it is, should an able bodied person not be more easily accepting?

If you accept life as it presents itself to you without expectations, happiness will increase.

If your only expectation of life is that you will experience it and you accept whatever life gives you, you will be much happier.

If you expect that people will behave a certain way toward you then ...<< MORE >>

Have you ever been so curious about an idea, so fascinated by your thoughts that you have allowed yourself to explore them in every aspect?

Allowing yourself to follow the thread of a thought can totally change how you think, how you view the world and yourself.

For example, if you are trapped by paranoia,  fearing that others are thinking badly of you or plotting against, you decide to explore if that is truly the case.

Surely you want to know whether it is true, so you start by examining factual, real evidence.

Of course, you want to ...<< MORE >>