Don’t Waste a Moment!

Life Is So Short

“We spend so much time sweating the small stuff; worrying, complaining, gossiping, comparing, wishing, wanting and waiting for something bigger and better instead of focusing on all the simple blessings that surround us everyday. Life is so fragile and all it takes is a single moment to change everything you take for granted. Focus on what’s important. You are blessed! Believe it! Live your life and leave no regrets”! Melanie Koulouris

Two incidents happened recently that reminded me of this post I had seen and shared on Facebook- silly, unimportant, trivial things which brings up the point that too many people do not live by this important philosophy.

First, my upstairs neighbor, Mr. Curmudgeon (not his real name), approached me to lament the fact that the grass in front of our condo building is yellow, due to too many dogs peeing there. He once told the board I was sneaking dogs into my unit when my daughter visited with her Beanie. He accused me then of getting another dog. We are allowed to have dogs! His second complaint was that the bushes in front of the other buildings are much nicer than ours and it’s not fair. He angrily said “and you don’t even care”. The truth is I had to agree with him. In the scheme of things, I don’t care!

Second, I was dining in a local restaurant with a good friend who is short on patience. She became irate because we waited for our first course and the second course was brought over before we had finished our soup, despite her warning the waitress that this would be unacceptable. The waitress was very accommodating and took back the second course until we were ready for it, after my friend had made her displeasure obvious. As an easy going person, I have trouble understanding this reaction—it’s only a meal. I told my friend life is too short to take issue with small things. I say it often now, but I was guilty of worrying about little things and wasting precious time until eleven years ago.

Watching my sister Jill fade away, month by month, week by week, and day by day, helpless to save her, changed me in so many ways. But most importantly, it changed my perspective on life. After she died, I refused to waste one more moment on worrying or sweating the small stuff.

Prior to that, I remember waking early every single Sunday when I began teaching ESL. Full of anxiety, I would take the entire day to plan lessons and obsess over which activity to do first, second, etc. As if my students would even know or care or judge my teaching style. What a terrible waste of time and energy! Time that I would never get back.

One year after Jill’s death, I visited a psychic medium Jeffrey Wand to help me communicate with my sister. What came through loud and clear was her advise to me to live my life and stop grieving for her because she was fine. She even had gotten her angel wings. (I believe. I believe.). More evidence from heaven to live in the moment!

I went back to the expert Richard Carlson who wrote “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff”. A review of the table of contents demonstrates important advice on how to fix this problem we all have at times.

1. Ask yourself the question “will this matter a year from now?
2. Surrender to the fact that life isn’t fair.(I would tell my kids this ad nauseum).
3. imagine yourself at your own funeral.
4. Choose your battles wisely.
5. Choose being kind over being right.
6. Resist the urge to criticize.
7. Breathe before you speak
8. Become a less aggressive driver.
9. Turn your melodrama into a mellow drama.
10. Count to ten.
11. Be flexible with changes in plans.
12. Quiet the mind.
13. Think of your problems as potential teachers.
14. Keep asking yourself “what’s really important”?
15. Live this day as if it were your last. It might be.

Ironically, Richard Carlson, motivational speaker, author and psychotherapist died at age 45 from a pulmonary embolism during a flight from San Francisco to New York to promote his new book.

Remember time comes and goes. You cannot bottle it or save it or get it back. Each moment passes one second at a time in front of you. You must choose how to spend it.

“So don’t waste a moment. Every moment counts. How we spend each day is sacred. Our mortality is a gift because it reminds us to live. Don’t wait another moment. Sing. Dance. Breathe. Live!” Aging Beautifully cards, Margaret Manning. XO. Penny