The present moment is the only time you can change.

We spend so much time not being in the present moment.  We look at our pasts and regret them.  We spend time wondering what would have happened if…  We look into our futures and worry about them, plan for them, daydream about them.  But really, the present moment is the only time we have.  It is the only time we can act.  It is the only time we can make choices.  It is the only time that is available to us to change.

We cannot change the past.  We can, perhaps, change how we feel about it.  But we cannot undo the things we’ve already done or that have been done to us.

We cannot change the future.  We think we can.  We think we can do things differently than we have done in the past – but when push comes to shove, do we really do things differently?  We think we can do things differently than our parents did – and maybe we do.  But does that guarantee that things will turn out differently for us than they did for our parents?

But we can change this moment.  We can act in this moment.  We can change how we think or how we feel.  In this moment.  You may not think you have control over your emotions or your thoughts, but you do.  You can change how you feel just by observing what you are feeling.  Not thinking about it.  Not judging it.  Just by observing it.  See how it feels in your body.  Watch how it changes as you watch it.  They say that a watched pot never boils, but watched emotions change.  We cannot sustain strong emotions forever.  Try it.  Next time you feel a strong emotion, instead of trying to figure out where it came from or what it means, just watch it.  See what it changes into if you don’t try to change it.  See what it changes into if you don’t try to judge yourself for having that emotion.  Just watch and see what happens.