{"id":1320,"date":"2019-02-25T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T07:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2022-04-18T17:09:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T23:09:30","slug":"preparing-to-live-or-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/preparing-to-live-or-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing to Live or Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the beginning of the book \u201cPeace is Every Step, The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life\u201d by Thich Nhat Hanh, we read,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Reading those words rang true with me. I too often allow my thoughts to race towards the future or dwell too long in the past and miss what is happening right before me.<\/p>\n

Planning is good and preparing for the future is necessary but as Thich Nhat Hanh says, \u201c\u2026even planning can only take place in the present moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And not being fully present robs us of what can be experienced only in that moment of living.<\/p>\n

I wonder if that\u2019s been part of my problem when I have struggled with being happy. \u201cWhat might happen\u201d or \u201cwhat did happen\u201d so fully occupied my thoughts to the exclusion of \u201cwhat is happening now\u201d?<\/p>\n

I am saddened to notice all the times my thoughts have existed elsewhere, when life was happening all around me.<\/p>\n