Shower Thoughts with Shelly

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LIVE IN THE MOMENT

“We need to have a trip planned that I can look forward to, because if we don’t, I’m just not going to be happy. I have nothing to be excited about.” “The new _______ will be coming out in a couple of months and it’ll have the best _______ and I’ll be so much happier.”

Two statements, seemingly unrelated, but achingly familiar to each other. At their core, both statements touch on a fatal flaw that many of us suffer, that humans tend to naturally fall into traps of… if not all the time, on and off through our lives. Lacking gratitude, and instead looking for the “next thing”, “best thing”, and “new thing”… but these will never satisfy us.

Focusing on “the best” will merely leave you constantly seeking the improved version. The moment you drive off the lot in “the best” car, it’s no longer the best.

The second that “the new” technology is released to be sold to you, there’s a newer technology waiting in line behind it. How miraculous it is that we are breaking barriers and improving with each day… but how miserable that we have fallen into the trap of trying to keep up with it.

“Next” will always be followed by another. Next in line is always the person after. Next day is always tomorrow. Even when you’re next, there’s a next and a next behind that.

Gratitude for what you have and where you are will make for a much happier day. Instead of insisting that every single day need be the best breakfast yet, focus on having a good enough, a satisfying breakfast every day.

If each and every day is the most special day that outdoes the last… no day is special. If you work to have something exclusive and amazing for everyone, nothing is amazing or exclusive for anyone… it’s just the norm.

These ideas lead us easily into materialism, another trap. Countless studies and piles of research have proven, stuff will not satisfy us. Quite the contrary, materialistic people will often have more and more stuff, and be increasingly unhappy with it. You don’t so much own your stuff as your stuff owns you. You must take care of everything you own, therefore the more you own the more busy you’ll be taking care of it instead of enjoying sunshine on your hair.

Live in the moment. Live in the todays, not for the tomorrows. Find beauty in the everyday, and wonder in simplicity. It doesn’t need to be the best to be awe inspiring. It simply needs to be.