"The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it."
- Thich Nhat Hanh
A lot can be said about the present moment. It's where we live. It's where we create. It's where everything happens. Everything that happened in the past happened in the present moment. Everything that will happen in the future will happen in the present moment. There is no escaping the present moment while we are alive and fully conscious. That being said, we are in control of how we feel in every waking moment. We determine whether we are happy, sad or somewhere in between. We may not always have a reason to be in a good mood, but it is usually our fault when we are not.
Life is always going to create reasons for us to be upset. Things don't always go our way. We get mistreated. Sometimes life will hand us a bag of lemons. We choose how to respond. There are times where we are going to get upset, and rightfully so. We cannot and should not ignore our feelings. We also have to choose how we respond to those feelings. It is healthy to address our feelings and how they make us feel. The key is to not get stuck in a pattern of negative emotions that prevent us from being able to move on.
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Sometimes, especially when life seems to be affecting us negatively, we may feel the need to retreat and throw a self-pity party due to our circumstances. It's natural to feel this way, but it can be unhealthy by allowing it to persist. We are allowed to be upset and feel those feelings, but for how long? This is where we rely on our ability to show resilience at times when we are feeling down. This is when we have to spring into action to move on from the negative circumstance we found ourselves in. Problems, for the most part, are temporary. Since that's the case, our initial response should be temporary too.
There is always something to be thankful for or joyous about. It's just that sometimes life reminds us that it is not always sunshine and roses. We should not allow the rainstorms in our lives to continue trickling down on us when the sun is waiting for us to soak up it's rays of light. Just like nature, we are here for the sunshine and the rain. Even when it is raining, the sun will still shine, providing us with the beauty of rainbows. The rain is only temporary, just like sorrow. The sun is always there, even when it is hiding behind the clouds. We just have to be willing to let the sun shine in.
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