Today's quotation:

No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy the sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today, enjoy it and be grateful for it.

Henry Ward Beecher

Today's Meditation:

We read a lot of words written about our tendency to worry about the future rather than focusing on getting the most out of today, and this tendency can keep us from creating many beautiful todays that will help us to create a beautiful future for ourselves.  Worry about the future often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy which can make it even more difficult for us to think positively about the future; all this can become a never-ending cycle that holds us firmly in its grasp.

There are concerns in our future.  They have to do with work, living, money, and family situations.  But they are in the future, not in the present, so we have choices to make.  Do we enjoy what we have today, or do we spend this day worrying and fretting about tomorrow?  Do we learn today and plan today for tomorrow, or do we stay obsessed with the potential bad things that will come around the corner tomorrow?  Do we trust life that tomorrow will take care of itself (while still making creative and focused plans for it), or do we add stress to our lives by not having the faith?

It's often very difficult not to let fears and anxiety take over our days-- they're very powerful forces.  But the power they have is only the power we give them, and if we take back that power and keep it from them, they won't be able to make our todays miserable.

I have many gifts at my disposal today that I can enjoy.  It's my choice whether I focus on them or if I focus on what may happen tomorrow.  And if I use my intelligence and intuition to make productive plans for dealing with tomorrow's potential problems, then I'm making even better use of this today that I've been given.

For further thought:

We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working with what we’ve got to make it as satisfying as we can.  We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going.  Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life.  Procrastination has robbed us of too many precious opportunities.  Call a friend for lunch, begin to read or even write that novel, organize your papers.  Try a new recipe for dinner, smile at everyone you meet, sit and dream before a blazing fire, pick up your needlepoint again, act as if you’re grateful to be alive, scatter joy.  Think of one thing that would give you a genuine moment of pleasure today and do it.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

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