Enjoying the moment

Shelley had written these lines which stayed with me through all these years after graduation:

"We look before and after, and pine for what is naught....
......Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought"

Winter brings with it a sense of melancholy in the evenings, a sense of ruing for what could have been, of hidden regrets. Human nature is such that regrets form a substantial part of our consciousness. We constantly pine for what has not happened, what we did not do, what could have occurred.

This yearning for a changed reality often takes away from us the sweetness of the actual moment. We keep looking into the past and yearning for a better future. How about thankfulness for the present joys? Most of us don't live in the present, so to say.

Lets make a conscious decision to live life as it is, one day at a time. As if supposing our breath were to stop tomorrow. Can we let go of our life without regrets? Have I done what I really wanted to do, or have I spent time wishing about things that could have been done? Did I hug my loved one, enjoy my meal wholeheartedly, cuddle my pet, connect with old friends, reach out to my parents? Later in life, when our career has ended, and most associates have left us, our family and friends and pets are the ones who will be with us. And what will really help us enjoy life at that age is a sound healthy body and mind. So lets spend our present nurturing these, so our tomorrow is without regrets.

Enjoy the moment folks, it will not come back again.....

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