Time is a funny thing–moments and memories strung together in at times a haphazard fashion. We’re always seeking more. Living for the next weekend. The next vacation. The next day off when we can run away from work and finally relax and do all of those things we can’t do today. There’s a burning, unquenchable thirst to escape the tedium which won’t be slaked.

Courtesy ConsciousInk.Com Temp Tattoos

I’ve blogged about time management before, making to-do lists, productivity, and so forth. Yes, planning your roadmap is critical. It lets you know where you’re headed and what you need to do to meet your goals, both short and long-term.

Let me share a little secret with you: tomorrow doesn’t exist. Yesterday? It’s a relic you can talk about over wine and cheese with friends, but never visit. All you have is this moment. Now.

Never underestimate the powerful gift of now. When you surrender allow yourself this moment, your ability to focus amplifies and all other distractions fade away.

In a hedonistic sense, this is choosing to live fully within your skin. Owning your choices, good or bad, and handling each moment with as much grace and acceptance as possible. When you’re no longer fighting the present moment, each task eases. Instead of wishing to be somewhere else you can  embrace the joy available in your current activity. Yeah, work may not be your ideal of sipping margaritas on a beach, but the fact is you can’t live on the beach every day. All of us live in a task-driven universe, with expectations–both external and internal–everyday. We can choose the joy in every moment or we can lose ourselves to a nonexistent reality of a tomorrow which may never materialize.

Joy is a choice. I invite you, in the moments of frustration and irritation, to seek it out.

No, it’s not easy. Life is imperfect, messy and sometimes painful. But if you don’t live it, immerse yourself in it, you’re missing the ride.