Living for today, living in the present moment, is to live for meaning and joy with a focus on the now, rather than the present or the future. In some life philosophies, living for the moment is destructive, devoid of learning from history and planning for the future, living without understanding the consequences. In other life philosophies, it is to transcend worry and old pain, to build memories and experiences that will become positive memories, to be free of destructive ties to the past or expectations and “shoulds” of the future.
Breathe. Let go. Remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
… we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.
Just where you are — that’s the place to start.
Impermanence becomes vivid in the present moment; so do compassion and wonder and courage.
The journey of patience involves opening to what’s happening, experiencing a sense of wonder.
When egolessness arises, we recognize it as a fresh moment, a clear perception of a smell or a sight or a sound, a feeling of opening to emotions or thoughts.
Cultivating moment-to-moment curiosity, we find that peace dawns on us.
Acknowledge whatever arises without judgment, let the thoughts simply dissolve, and then go back to the openness of this very moment.
We ought to live each day as though
it were our last day here below.
But if I did, alas, I know
it would have killed me long ago.
One of the most powerful, and deeply spiritual, ways to work for social change is for us to take action in the present that embodies — right now! — the future vision that we seek
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to help make others so.
The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
There is no justification for present existence other than its expansion into an indefinitely open future.
Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.
Self-care is the constant practice of not letting more pain accumulate. It is about continually remembering that our lives are of value. It is the active process of settling our nervous systems so that we have more access to the present moment.
But tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun.
Everyday we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life…, our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.
Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.
If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time, not tomorrow or next year … Today should always be our most wonderful day.
Don’t strew me with roses after I’m dead.
When Death claims the light of my brow,
No flowers of life will cheer me: instead
You may give me my roses now!
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.
My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate — that’s my philosophy.
