Vapor

Imagine a life where you wake up in the morning, comfortable, peaceful, rested and rejuvenated. Your feet hit the floor and you have a sense of enthusiasm. You’re almost excited with anticipation of the great things that might come your way throughout the day.  You have no lingering bad feelings or emotions from yesterday, last week or last year. Your heart is not weighed down with anxieties of life’s struggles even though you have plenty that you could worry about. And fear is no longer part of your vocabulary.  You pour a cup of coffee noticing how wonderful the kitchen smells from the recent brew. Firmly you hold your mug in both hands as if giving your warm coffee cup a little hug of appreciation. A sense of gratitude feels your heart with something as simple as a warm cup of coffee, it brings a smile to your face. You have a gazillion things to do and challenges to tackle but you put them out of your mind for just a few minutes as you sit down and let yourself wake up. Your thoughts go to who you’d like to call today just to say hi or what you can do to make a loved one or friends day just a little brighter. I hope this is the way you start off every single day, but what I have seen as a coach is that this is far from most people’s experience. What if you could attain this though? What if it is possible to wake up every day with this attitude? Well, I have personally discovered that it is possible, but it all comes down to one mindset or central belief pattern. You must believe that life is like a vapor. It’s here and then gone. It’s a true realization that any day could be your last. When that is the case, what you focus on changes. The things you used to invest your time and thought power into will most likely not seem as important. This mindset forces you to decide, do you want to spend your time living in the past or spend time thinking about things that upset you? Things that you have no control over and things that are just unpleasant. Do you want to spend time living in a make-believe future or do you want to enjoy every single moment right now to the fullest? The American culture puts too much time investment into what could have been or what could be and totally misses out on the very gifts happening right now. We live in thoughts of, “When I retire I can really live the life I want”, “When this relationship is better and this person changes, I will enjoy life again.”, “When I have enough money I will be happy.” Or “If I had only…” We spend so much time in these thoughts that we totally waste the greatness of right now. Doesn’t it seem hard though to live a life as if each day could be your last? I mean, that could be stressful in and of its self for many people. It is human nature to avoid the realization that we only have a limited amount of time. It is hard to face the fact that we are mortal people and won’t live forever. Every day we only have 1440 minutes to work with, each of which, could literally be our last. When you come to embrace the reality that there are limited minutes available it makes it much more critical to live intentionally. Having this mindset helps you just focus on the day at hand. All you need to do is get through this very day. Holding this mindset about your day takes away feelings of being overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, etc. We truly do not know what is right around the corner that could change everything. Now, I’m not saying you should neglect responsibilities and not make preparations for the days ahead. I am simply saying do not live in your mind in the days that have already passed and do not live in your imagination of a future life. Psalms 39:4-5 “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered  how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” 

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