Living Moment by Moment
Life is all about Moments,
It's Moments that create the hour and the day.
Those who lose a Moment,
Lose life itself, they say!
What is life? It is the period between birth and death. But can we live our entire life in one shot? People say, 'You can't eat an elephant in one bite. The only way to eat it is one bite at a time.' So it is with life!
If we stop to analyze life – what is it? It is made up of years, years that are broken down into months, weeks, and days. Each day has 1440 minutes that form the 24 hours. Each minute has 60 seconds. Before we even realize it, the second is gone! We can't stop the second from passing, but we can be in the moment. We can be in the 'now'. When we live moment by moment, life seems to stop for us to live. The clock's ticking doesn't matter as we become conscious of our life moment by moment.
What are you doing now? Chances are that whatever you are doing, your mind is not still. Like a monkey, it's jumping from thought to thought. It is the mind that stops us from living in the 'now'. Because it jumps here and there, we lose the moment – in fact, many moments. We lose life itself!
How does one live life moment by moment? By letting go and by surrendering to each moment as it unfolds. Can we control everything that is happening around us? We can't!
Then what is the point worrying about it?
Those who live moment by moment, accept and surrender to the Divine will. They don't constantly fight with everything that unfolds. They realize that whatever is happening, is unfolding as per a Divine law. While they cannot change the circumstances around them, they can change what is happening within them. Thus, they take charge of their life moment by moment. They try to enjoy the 'now', rather than living by regretting the past and worrying about the future. They realize that they can't go back to yesterday, nor can they live in 'tomorrow'. 'Tomorrow' never comes! They realize it can come only as 'today.' Even 'today' cannot appear as a chunk of 24 hours. 'Today' can unfold moment by moment. Those who live their life with hope and wonder are not as happy as those who accept and surrender. Thus, the ones who live moment by moment believe in the philosophy – Accept, don't wonder! Replace hope with Surrender.
What happens when you keep on hoping? You create expectations and more often than not, these expectations are not met. Consequently, we become disappointed and instead of enjoying the moment, we mourn our disappointments.
Somebody very aptly called this moment as the 'present'. It is a gift to us. If we don't use it, we lose it. It is up to us to make the best use of the present because if we don't, it will soon become the past that will be gone forever. However, if we grab hold of the present, and live it moment by moment, each moment will be a gift to treasure and to be happy.
Not everybody lives life blissfully. They may live moment by moment, but they may fill each moment with regret and misery. They may fill their moments with fear, worry, hatred, anger, and revenge. This is not living life moment by moment, rather it is destroying life by the moment. To truly live life in the present, we must develop the art of being happy in the 'now'.
Everybody wants to be happy, but not everybody learns how to be happy. Happiness is not about getting pleasure or joy. It is experiencing a state of peace and bliss and it is only possible to be happy in the 'now'. You can't be happy in the past, nor can you try to be happy in the future because neither the past nor the future exist. The only thing that exists is 'now'. Those who develop the art of being happy, do not lose even a moment in misery and sorrow. They make it a resolve to be happy as every moment unfolds in their life. Then, this becomes a habit – to be happy, moment by moment. There are others who lose the opportunity of these joyous moments. Unfortunately, they don't realize that they are not losing a moment of happiness. They are losing life itself.
Resolve to live in the 'now'. Resolve to live blissfully, moment by moment. Don't transact your moments for anything else because your moments are your most priceless possessions. I know people who yearn to go to the turquoise beaches in the Maldives. Once they are there, they become lost in their laptop, their mobile phones, and social media. Then soon they are back home, only to regret that they lost those beautiful moments on the white sand beaches. They missed some Divine sunrises and sunsets because they were busy planning a party at night and waking up late the next morning. They forgot to live life in the moment!
Every moment has its own purpose. Let us live fully in that moment. Let us give our moment all our life without diluting it. Let us enjoy and savour each moment fully, extracting the most of every moment of life.
IN A NUTSHELL