The Defining Moment Today

What we are doing right now defines us. It is our defining moment. It’s our assumption that the good or bad actions in our past will govern our future. I would phase this to; the actions that I performed shaped only the day that they happened. What I did the next day, shaped the next day. So, if I keep doing the same things time and time again, my life will be exactly what my daily activities where. This also applies for a good life. Line up good actions day-to-day and the result will be a great life.

We often identify a course correction in our lives to a specific event, a life-changing event. It can be health related or other moments that alter our journey. The unfortunate death of a loved one or a friend, the diagnosis you receive from your physician, hasn’t changed your rational and put you on a different path. It’s the decisions and actions we take after the event that changes our lives. The unfortunate events only bring into perspective what we couldn’t accept on our own. It gave us the push out the door towards a different mindset. For some, this spark never takes root even when they face a life-altering moment.

Change doesn’t need a life moving event. We only need the comprehension of what we are doing in the present moment is altering and shaping our lives. We keep hearing that our past shapes our future. This is absolute nonsense. Today, right now, you keep looking back on your life with regret, you will wake up one morning, 10 to 20 years will have passed. You will discover you have lived a life of disappointment. All this because you decided each day to live in remorse. You could have changed any given day, but you didn’t.

When we are questioned about why we have a drink or a glass of wine, we give an answer like, it helps me wind down from my hectic day. Or why do you drink wine with dinner: I like the taste of a good wine when I’m eating. Repeat this often enough, 10 to 20 years will have passed. Your body and mind will be altered. You now have liver problems, digestive problems, heart problems or even worst, possibly some form of cancer. Again, all of this because of one day we could have decided otherwise but kept postponing the decision to reduce our consumption or even quit.

“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” Seneca

We go through our lives without paying attention to the repercussions each decision has on our lives. It can be something as insignificant like watching Netflix or a movie each night instead of skipping a few evenings and reading a book. It can be the one cookie you pull from the cookie jar. It can be the constant complaining. It can be screaming at your windshield when someone cuts you off in traffic. It can be finding excuses for not having enough time or money to do the things you would like to accomplish.

Whatever action, it only happens in the present moment. We can only be I the present moment and nowhere else. Not yesterday and not tomorrow. So, this makes it somewhat easy to change. But the energy required to do so can be massive. What will determine the necessary effort will come from the answer to the following question.

Do I want to live the rest of my life like a did today?

I recommend you ask yourself this question right before you go to bed. Look back on your day and replay in your mind all the events, decisions and actions. Then ask yourself the question. The answer you will get will uncover 2 doors to choose from. You can physically and mentally only walk through one of them. The chosen door will reveal your next day. Each night you can go through the same exercise. The door you keep choosing will eventually become your life.

We have many options at our disposal and each day we all have 100% control over our choices and our lives. So, the choice is clear, the RED pill or the BLUE pill, like depicted by Morpheus in the movie The Matrix. You take the red pill; your day will forever change your life. You take the blue pill; you remain in the blissful state you are in and ignore the changes required to achieve what you want and unconsciously accept what you have now as your life’s representation.

Instead let’s pay close attention on the now, the present moment. When we change our mindset and realise that today has the power to change our whole life, we can set forth on a course of action that creates the life we want. Or, we can accept the status quo as our ideal life. The present moment is the soil for the future. Take the time and sew the seed of a great life. If you don’t act wisely now, you will most likely hurt yourself in the future.

The present moment is the window to our life!