Why Living in the Moment Matters to Your Personal Growth

You only truly exist here. In this place. In this lifetime. Arriving. And yet, so much of your time can be spent somewhere else in the waiting and the wanting and the what ifs, hoping, yearning, striving for something different. This striving is the desire for change, the determined forward movement of progress and practice and just showing up-not necessarily a bad thing, but, this striving without also the stillness, keeps you missing the distance in favor of a single destination. If you can’t arrive here today; how will you know when you arrive-there-tomorrow?

I used to spend a lot of time running away from myself. It was easier to live in the dream of something different, perhaps even perfect, than to step into the mess and the feeling of the moment needed to actually get there. This moment held what I avoided within myself. Old wounds and old stories wrapped around how I carried who I was into the world. My life was high stress and urgent. Relationships were dramatic and needy. My self concept relied on conforming to unachievable beauty standards and people pleasing. The external shine of somewhere else kept me believing that here was just a place to pass by rather than a place to linger.

To that end, the things you want: the peace, the love, the opportunity, can only be found in the current moment. This imperfect moment, with the dishes still sitting in the kitchen sink or inadequacy still sitting heavy in your heart, with the whole of you feeling, living, is where you find what you have been searching for.

This is the moment that exists, and because it is the moment that exists, it is the one you can actually see and hear and take in fully. This is the moment where you breathe in and reframe your priorities. It is the moment you breathe out and let yourself simply be. It’s the place where you choose to reside long enough to understand, long enough to let go, long enough to stay, so that when you do strive for something different you actually are present enough to notice when you get there.

The Art of Being is a self guided course on starting a daily meditation practice. It is filled with poetic insight, research backed methodology and guided practice to help support you on your journey to greater presence and self love.

Originally published at https://www.theartofgoodenough.com on April 30, 2022.