What's in a moment?

Each moment of every day, many are given the opportunity to make decisions that effect their future. Be thankful that you are given the opportunity of the moment, as there are millions who do not have the opportunity to make decisions that effect their future.

The most important thing in your life is this very moment and the decisions you make to create a change in your future - that is the purpose of the moment. With the passing of the moment, all opportunity is lost. Did you make a decision to create a difference in your life? Are you a better person from the decision you made in the previous moment? Did you learn something? Did you do something to bring joy to another? Did you make a difference in another person's life?  Most people go through life without considering the choices - the decisions - they make at each moment of their life -  let alone the previous year that contained 31,449,600 moments, each with an opportunity.

Yes, you are in the moment. However, the moment is nothing more than a fleeting opportunity to consider your future. It is what you do in the moment that will set your course for the future. There are many things that will catch your eye, but only a few will capture your heart - pursue them - allow the moment to set you free to achieve more in your future, rather than becoming stagnated in the moment and never fully realizing what could be.

Do not let your fear of the past control your future. The past is gone and with each passing moment the present is also gone. We have only the future to look forward to. It is our own personal responsibility to grow and experience all that life has to offer, rather than living in the moment - stagnant - with no hope of a brighter future. We should not sit idle waiting on another to control our future. We must take action in the moment and decide to be happy, content, at peace in the future. It is our responsibility to control our own destiny, and make the wisest choice for our future in the moment we have.

Fear of Error

Each of us comes to a fork in the road at one time or another, where we must make an important, life-changing decision. What we do at that very moment depends on how we answer the question, “How do I make the right decision that will have such a huge impact on my life and that isn’t at all clear what the best decision is?”

We are often fearful of making an error in our judgment. This is a natural occurrence for many who look to the past and feel that they have made errors in judgment before - believing that it is possible that we will again make an error. This is a false belief if we have given thought to our past errors and decided that we do not want to make the same error again. One of the greatest gifts that we receive is the capability of hope, that prevents us from continuing to make the same error again and again. It is in our destiny.

Life is journey that takes us down a path, which is seldom a single long road from birth to death. It is a meandering path that twists and turns and includes forks where we must decide to continue moving, either to the left or to the right. The forks are not simply there. They are placed before us to allow us to take the right path towards a richer, brighter future. The wise person with a sense of destiny will always choose the right path. We know that we must take the path, as we cannot simply become stagnate and cease our journey.

There are no crystal balls in life, so there is no way to know what lies in the future, thus we must allow our destiny to take over and believe that we will make the right decision at the moment.

Attempting to predict the future is a largely frustrating and futile endeavor. We can only make the best decision we can, based on the available information, some contemplation of the life we want to lead, and our present feelings about the possibility of happiness. We must also recognize that this is not our final decision in our life; that we will have many “forks in the road” ahead of us and few are irreversible. That should help put the decision in perspective and reduce its feeling of enormity.

Making the Decision

What is the objective reality of the two options you face, meaning how will the two paths impact your life? A big part of this involves giving a lot of thought to the future life you feel you want and need to live. How will the decision influence your identified life dream goal? Can you live comfortably with the life you are now living? How will either path impact your future?

You have made many choices before in your life, some ending with disappointment that caused you to change the path and take an alternate path. Do you think that your destiny failed you at that moment? Of course not, it told you to move away from the current path of disappointment and take another path. It was your destiny that gave you the opportunity to take the other path and what brought you to this very moment in your life.

Assuming that just like many others, you have decided to get married and have children which greatly affected the rest of your life. You could never have been given the opportunity to have the children that you have, if you had not made the decision to go down the path of marriage and childbirth.

And, let's also assume that at some point, your spouse decided to move in another direction, forcing you to choose a path away from marriage. It was not your choice that ended the marriage but the choice of your spouse.

You did not make a poor decision, as it was the choice of your spouse. You, on the other hand are blessed with children from the marriage. For this, you must be happy and you should consider that it was your destiny to be given the opportunity of continuing down a less stressful and happy existence with your children.

Your Destiny

You should believe that you are a phenomenally capable person and that your destiny was to reach this very moment in your life. Ask yourself, if you really want to stay in your present position or do you want to be happier and more content in your future.

You should not base your decision on something that may or may not happen in the future. There no way to know what unexpected and wonderful things may happen in your future. Plus, serendipity has an amazing way of changing our lives for the better at just the right moment. We are given the right moment and given the choice of moving towards happiness and destiny that will help us make the right decision.

What a wonderful thing destiny is. We are moving along a path and destiny throws a fork in front us. It was placed there for a reason, that allows us to move toward a more wonderful life, full of hope and promise. It is the very definition of destiny, which is the events that will necessarily happen to us in the future. It is a hidden power that controls what happens in the future - our fate. Destiny is the future, not the past. It is not concerned with the past and what happened or did not happen. It is about the future and always steers us in the path that should be taken for good reason.

Intuition

Another facet is entirely non-rational and hard to wrap your arms around. It is your intuition, your gut feeling, whatever you want to call it. When you think about the two different paths, how do they feel?

Which one bring you a sense of calm and comfort in the moment and which one brings you angst and discomfort?

The challenge for you, is that it requires a great deal of confidence in your capabilities and judgment. Making a decision in this intuitive way is truly a leap of faith, because there is no objective data on which to base your decision. Destiny is based on intuition that we have the unique ability to understand immediately, without the need of conscious reasoning that guides us. We know that the considerations of our intuitive feelings, rather than conscious reasoning will assist us in the right decision.

Exploration

Another facet of our decision making process involves a deep exploration of our values, priorities, and the lifestyle we want to lead. What do you value most in your life? What aspects of your life do you want as your priorities? What kind of life do you want to lead in the short term and in the future, say, in 10+ years?

What do you want your life to be filled with (e.g., a wonderful relationship with someone who will provide companionship, love, hope and a less stressful life)?

If you do not consider these questions you could end up taking the path of least resistance, which is seldom the right path. No, taking the easy way out is what everyone else does and we only have to look around us to see that those who choose the path of least resistance are seldom happy and content in life.

Time

Recognize that time is your most precious resource. Why? Because it is nonrenewable. Once a moment is gone, it is lost forever and the path ahead is one moment shorter.

Ask yourself: At the end of your life, how do you wish you had lived your life and spent your time? Will you regret having missed a promising opportunity to find happiness because you could not make a decision based on your fear of error, or will you look back with satisfaction knowing that you lived your life the way you deliberately chose to?

Happiness

A very important concept of your decision making should ultimately be your happiness. Happiness should be central to all of our life’s decisions. Yes, success and financial rewards can bring you satisfaction, but only happiness can bring you real meaning, fulfillment, and joy. True happiness comes from living a life filled with your passions, finding love, living a value-driven life, and your life is being you. So, what makes you happy and unhappy?

Be Happy in the Future!

Finally, the real consolation as you wrestle with any major life decision, is that there are no bad decisions. The reality is that, whatever you decide, you will be just fine because you’re a competent and good person who will make the best of whichever path you choose.

However, you should always go with what will make you the happiest now - at this very moment. Your future will, I believe, take care of itself quite nicely.

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