Learning to live in the moment has not been
an easy task for me. I’ve let my
thoughts be guided by my past and constant worrying about what the future
holds. In my mind, thoughts of my past
and constant worrying about the future unconsciously controlled me. There has been numerous times where I have
missed out on what’s right in front of me because I’ve been so distracted by my
past and future. Living in the moment
has been something I’ve been working on for a number of months now and is not
something you just do. Living in the
moment takes practice by keeping an open mind, focusing on what is in front of
you now, and letting your thoughts come and go without hanging on to them. I’ve been overweight since childhood struggling
with bulimia for over a decade, and just diagnosed as bipolar1 severe mania and
mixed episodes. Living in the moment is
helping me to lose weight in a healthy way, get my bipolar stabilized all by
taking one day at a time and not beating myself up if I make a mistake or
obsessing about a future goal. This is what I’ve been doing to live more in the
moment.
Every day when I get up I make a cup of
coffee and before I do anything else I take ten or fifteen minutes to think
about what is in front of me. Usually
I’m outside when this occurs and think about what it looks like outside. I try to appreciate whatever weather condition
is happening at the moment and not think about anything else. This morning the weather was sunny and about
55 degrees as I watched two red tail hawks unsuccessfully chase a squirrel
through my backyard. The point is that during this time I’ve let everything
else go and just enjoying the moment for whatever it may bring.
I’ve been doing this regularly since the
start of the year and have started to notice that I approach each new day with
a new attitude. I’ve found that I am
more positive, less confrontational, and easier to communicate with. In terms of my weight loss, I don’t view it as
a diet anymore but as a life change. I
do still have days where I slip and have a hard time with this life change but
part of living in the moment means letting life happen, accepting that life can
be good or bad, and just moving on. I
still have a lot riding on my shoulders but the load feels so much lighter. Before I started living in the moment my moods
and emotions would all kind of run together and I never seemed to have a break
from that. Now, I have this time where I
let everything go and appreciate only what is front of me. As I’m getting better at living in the moment
I’m finding it to be very exciting and a definite necessity for controlling my
bipolar as well as my life.
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| This picture is the way I live in the moment. It's really nice to just stare up and enjoy what is in front of you. Click picture to enlarge. |
