The best gift in life is TODAY!

One of the most important choices you make each day is whether you live in the PRESENT TENSE or allow the hurts of yesterday to consume you or the dreams of tomorrow to side track you? I know that most have heard and talked about not allowing history to repeat itself, yet, the reality is that unless we learn from our past tomorrow, the future and the hope of our dreams is lessened. So how do we start embracing the NOW in today instead of waiting for life to happen tomorrow or moaning, groaning and complaining about yesterday?

So why do so many allow the heart ache from the past to constrain them from living life to the fullest in the present tense? I was recently at the beach watching a group of Southern Cal guys surf. What caught my attention was a young gal that walked along the boardwalk with her board and then descended to the shoreline and made her way into the surf. What was amazing was the look from the guys at this gal that was hitting the waves hard and banking back and forth staying on top. I asked one of the surfers if many girls surfed which he quickly responded NAH but the few that do usually are incredible.

Why allow the argument or dispute of yesterday, which is past history, stop you from diving into life today? What causes so many to only talk about their dreams and desires and not actually DO IT today? I can’t fathom that someone would actually go to the trouble of buying an expensive surf board and wetsuit to only keep them in their garage? I can’t imagine someone settling for just watching someone else hit the waves and enjoy the ocean breeze instead of getting wet and taking a chance!

Disappointment is just a fact of life so anyone that pretends never to get into it with a spouse, friend or family member is lying. The reality is that all of us need to learn how to better process the hurt and disappointment to avoid becoming bitter and instead learn from our personal struggles to help make life better. It’s so easy to always blame shift and point our fingers at another instead of taking ownership of our own messes. So instead of painting a picture that everyone else is totally ‘screwed up’ look in the mirror and be real. I do have more wrinkles and the gray isn’t going to disappear. Yet, the fact of life is that I can still body surf at 60 and catch waves that made me feel the same as when I was a 20-year old pursuing my future bride at Mission Beach.

Life is about growing and never settling for the status quo! I was with a group of older friends this last weekend who ‘rocked my boat’! Most view retirement as disappearing and doing little to nothing intentionally. Yet, these incredible friends made my day because they were still in the middle of the fray giving themselves to others instead of daydreaming about their glory days in the 60’s or 70’s.