Has anyone mastered this? Suddenly, it's as though I live in gloom and doom, that's just not my personality. I think of the worse case scenarios, and just work myself up. Yesterday, I had such a great day. I got through the morning anxiety, went running, and then spent the day with my son and the evening with my husband. Rather then relishing in that happiness, I'm already thinking about how terrible the next day might be. And here I am, anxious and miserable. Why can't I appreciate the moment, live for the day, and not anticipate the worst? I have a life that I absolutely love and thank God for every day, and I've become so frightened that it's all going to go away. Does anyone have a secret for seizing the day, the moment, and letting go of the fears and all that gloom?

This board has become my sanity, thank you all!!!

Karen: I went through a program years ago that taught us a technique called "mindfulness." In it, you are supposed to 'Just Observe'...no thinking, or judging, just noticing. For example, right now, I"m sitting at my desk and I'm noticing that:

1. I can hear the phone ringing in the outside office.
2. I can feel the pressure of my foot tucked under my other leg.
3. My back aches slightly.
4. I can hear the hum of the computer.

The idea is just to notice as many things as possible in your immediate surrounding environment. You can even say to yourself "I'm noticing that my earlobe is burning" or "I'm noticing i hear a firetruck".

Supposedly, with practice, this helps you to 'stay in the moment' and not let your thoughts run away with you.

Do I practice this? Not at much as I should. It's hard, especially when "I'm noticing that I'm shaking from head to toe and feel like throwing up." but hey, thought I'd pass it on to you...

I've said it before on this board, but my best strategy for "living in the moment" is to just think about and do the "next thing."

Example, I'm at my computer, right now. What's the next thing I have to do. Well, I'm having company for dinner. My house is tidy, but I haven't vacuumed, so the next thing will be to go vacuum.

We're bringing in dinner, so after I finish vacuuming, I'll do the next thing, which will be figure out what I'm ordering, and find the number for the restaurant....and so forth.

If you break each day down into moments, or individual decisions, and think about what's next, it is much easier to live in the moment because you're not projecting.

IMHO, when our projecting turns to worry what we're really looking to achieve is some level of control. And in my book, "control is an illusion." You have the moment, that's it, so live in it.

Dawn...you are so right on with that! I never really related it to control, but that's what I'm about. I want a guarantee that this will end soon, I find myself making bargains with God (and I'm not religious!), in hopes of bring my family and friends eternal health and happiness. I want to know that everything and everybody will be fine, I want to be able to control that. I want to know that when I wake-up tomorrow morning, I'll be just fine. I tend to let the day pass me by as I think of ways to try and control the future. You're absolutely right, all we have is this moment, I better start living it!!!

Thank you both for those words and advice...
K~