“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.”
This quote is by Thich Nhat Hanh. He was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, author, poet, and teacher.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s words express enthusiasm and gratitude for the gift of life. For the gift that each day is and for the potential all of us have for living each day fully. Because we are all unique persons on our individual life journeys, that which comprises our living each day fully will also be unique for each of us.
We all have responsibilities, concerns, priorities, and hopes. No matter what those are, it can help us when we start each day by being thankful for that day and by expressing our gratitude to our Creator.
It’s natural to have times when we feel sad or overburdened because of whatever is going on in our lives. It’s also natural to have times of happiness and peacefulness. Again, expressing gratitude helps us to approach what we need to do no matter how we’re feeling. Doing so reminds us of the abilities and inner strength we have, and being mindful of those can enable us to be motivated as we go about our day.
In addition to being thankful, we are better able to live fully in each moment when we try to follow the guidance of our inner voice or, to use Jungian terminology, when our ego is in alignment with the Self. Some ways that help us to hear and to follow that guidance are paying attention to our intuition and to our dreams, noticing when projection might have occurred and what it is telling us about ourselves, endeavoring to ascertain the significance of unexpected happenings, and praying for guidance.
My prayer for all of us is that we will do our best to live each day fully.