How to be Grateful and Focus on the Moment

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If there is one certainty in life that you can count on, it is death. No human escapes death or the death of loved ones. Time moves at a steady rate and once it's gone, it can never be returned. That is why it's so important to learn how to be grateful and take advantage of the time you have with people you love now. Soon the NOW that you know will cease and later will come whether you are ready for it or not.

With the hustle bustle of daily life, it can be difficult to know how to cherish each and every moment with the people you love. Here are some words of wisdom that will teach you how to be grateful and help you to always cherish the gift you have been given--the right now.

How to be Grateful for the Time You Have With Loved Ones 

Be present with your loved ones -- Every moment with a loved one is a precious gift. Sadly, it is a gift that does not last forever. When you are with the people you love, it is so important to be present. That means not dwelling on the past or fretting about the future. It means taking advantage of the present moment by living the love you share. 

You don't want to regret the way you used your time -- It always feels like we have more time than we do. When we realize that time has run out, we regret not enjoying our time more. We think all that time spent fighting could have been spent loving. It's so important to try your best to make every moment a good moment with the people you love.

Give gratitude  --We have written about gratitude before and how important it is to live a life of gratitude. Gratitude is powerful. It can move mountains. Metaphorical mountains, but really BIG ones. If fact being gracious for the time you have with your loved ones will open your heart space so you can experience that love more intensely. 

Tell them how you feel about them -- If you tell your loved ones how much they are loved every single day, then you will have no regrets. You will never question if they knew how much you loved them or not. You will know they left this world with comfort in the knowledge that you were there with them every step of the way. And you will be comforted in the knowledge that they took with them the piece of you and left you a piece of them.

Gratitude and Love Near the End

When the end is near, people will look back and say, "I wish we had spent all that time loving instead of arguing." Or, "I wish I spent all that time loving instead of criticizing." When you are with your loved ones, it is important to stay in the moment because no moment lasts forever. Remember in tough times that love is patient and kind. Everything else -- the bad, the unfortunate, the sad -- does not matter. There is no place for that in your heart. Hopefully this has helped you in understanding how to be grateful and cherish the time you have with your loved ones.

Do you know why it's important to focus on the moment? As humans, we have been gifted with the unique ability to remove ourselves from the present moment. As such, we are able to look back on things that have happened, gain experiences and knowledge, and learn from the past. We too are able to look ahead in time and plan our future. You can see how this has aided in the survival of humankind in a not so kind world filled with predators and aggressive species. The ability to learn from the past and predict what's to come is necessary to the human life. 

True as this may be, what has aided us for thousands of years has also become our downfall. As times change so do the necessities of certain human traits; and, although it is still very important to learn from the past and predict what's to come, it is perhaps not as life-threatening as it once had been. Because we have this unique ability does not mean it should be used all of the time. In fact, to be lost in time isn't always the healthiest place for a human to be. The best place to be is right now. When we spend our time looking backward or forward and do not take the time to experience the now, we tend to put ourselves in a place of unease, anxiety, and perhaps even trick our brains into feeling like we are in a fight or flight situation. 

HERE'S WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO FOCUS ON THE MOMENT.

It's easy to show and feel gratitude when you live in the moment.

When we live in the past or the future, we are often thinking about things bad that have happened or worrying about things to come. We're thinking about how we could have done things better and we're thinking about how we can secure our future and have a better life. But when we are living in the moment we are thankful for what we have right now. If you think about right now, most of will have health, happiness, experience with family and loved ones. If we are stuck in the past or the future and not experiencing new things we have to be thankful for then we are choosing to focus on the negative aspects of life. When you focus on the negative you feel bad. When you focus on the happy and positive you feel good. It really is that simple.

We don't let life pass us by.

Being stuck in the past is one of the worst feelings in the world and is fuel for resentment and bitterness towards loved ones. It's easy to get trapped there in the place where nothing is let go and no one moves on to better places. When we spend all our time here we miss what's happening right in front of our eyes. We feed our brain sadness and depression and regret and we neglect the fruitfulness of life. When we choose to live in the future we grasp on to anxiety and worry and desire to have the things we do not have. With neglect the opportunity to appreciate the experiences we have been gifted. Experiencing right now in the future as a reflection of the past is no way to live life. Worse, to look back regret that we did not take the time to experience the moment. Don't let this happen to you.

It's how we connect with other humans.

With almost 6,000,000,000 human beings on this earth, today imagine every single one of us having multiple moments in time. In theory, by the power of thought, we all experience the past, the future and the present all at once. That's a lot of time travel. Yet the only way to really come together and connect and have shared experiences is to be present in the moment one another. It's one of the greatest gifts. If you were having relationship troubles, try letting go of the past. Try not to worry about the future or what's to come or what the other person is thinking about. Just stop and share the experience of now. We promise you'll be better for it. We hope you have gained some insight into why it is important to focus on the moment in our everyday lives. May you find more peace by doing so.