In the jungle of information about attracting happiness and getting what you want out of life, is there a magic key? Is there a “how to” that you should follow to find happiness? What does it even mean to allow your life to be lived?
Spencer Johnson alludes to a “how to” in his book The Present. He states “When you want to be happier and more effective it is time to be in the present moment. Focus on what is right now. Respond to what is important today.”
Wayne Dyer also speaks about letting your life be lived by you and allowing your passion or your calling to play out in the now. He says “instead of always needing to be in control of everything, just let it happen as it happens.”
What exactly does this mean? Sitting and letting your life pass you by? How would anything ever get done if you’re just supposed to allow things to happen and always be in the present?
It’s not as complicated as it sounds and what these two teachers talk about actually makes a lot of sense.
Sometimes people live in the past and sometimes people live in the future. They are consumed by their mistakes, by the wrongs of others, or they stress and worry about the what-ifs of tomorrow.
When you stop and think about it, though, when can you truly live? Only in the right now. The present moment is the only moment you ever have. That’s what this message is all about. It’s not about you sitting on your sofa and letting your life pass you by, ignore your past and not worrying about your future. If you did that then nothing would ever happen. No amount of allowing or wishing would help you achieve your goals from your sofa. Right now is the only time you have to make decisions, plan, and take action, and allow the results to unfold.
There are three important keys in Spencer Johnson’s and Wayne Dyer’s messages.
1. Let go of your past by learning from it
2. Create your future instead of stressing about it.
3. Be in action in the present
Things happen in your life for a reason. Once you get the lesson from an occurrence you can move on. If you don’t learn anything then chances are something similar will occur in your life again. Some people take this to mean that nothing good ever happens to them. They begin to relive those bad occurrences and tell everyone about them. They get stuck in the rut of always thinking about the past and attracting more of the same in their future.
Once you have your learnings from the past there is no need to hold on to the emotions of the past. You keep the memories but those memories don’t consume you.
Once you set goals and have an action plan to reach them want to avoid doing is controlling every detail of the process. Allow the outcome you want to unfold while you take action.
Now you are in a position to live in the present because there is nothing to stress about. You accept your lessons from your past so chances are you won’t repeat the same mistakes again. You trust in your good plan for reaching your goals and every day you move closer to that goal by taking action. You remain flexible in your approach and you allow the right teachers to show up when you need them. And you breathe.