Alive in the Present Moment

Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.

Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don't have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don't have to leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.

We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you, loving Father, for the gift of this new day, for the twenty-four
brand-new hours You are giving me to be happy in Your love and to bring Your
happiness and love to others. Let me live each moment as if it were the only
moment, which it is -- shining with Your goodness and full of endless
possibilities. Wake me up, dear Father, that I may be truly alive in the present
moment, rejoicing always to be Your precious child. Amen.