{My Happiness Project} You Belong Right Now, In This Moment

"RIGHT NOW, In This Moment" — this has been my mantra the last two weeks. 

We've struggled over the past month and a half - settling into life in Maui, new jobs, new house, a new car, new lifestyle. It's been really difficult and many days we've felt melancholy and frustrated. We found ourselves daydreaming about a place we'd rather be and how we want our lives to be in the future. Then we slap ourselves in the face trying to remember that a month ago we were in Seattle dreaming of being in Hawaii. I'm convinced that our discontent is 50% situational and 50% attitude. Maui wasn't what we expected and then we made it worse by having a stinky tude. I've been using so much energy to focus on the positive things I'm grateful for, the things I'm enjoying. Every week I write my Grateful on Sunday list...it helps a lot. But now I have my mantra...it really helps a lot.

I find myself lying back in our sporty red convertible, driving through sunshine and wishing I were somewhere else. I hear the thought appear in my head, "I wish I were in California."

"Why," I ask myself.

"So we could drive through along the coast in the sunshine with the breeze blowing through our hair." 

"You're doing that right now," I say to myself. "Focus RIGHT HERE, In This Moment. You have what you want."

I was sitting outside in the garden reading a book and I heard myself think,

"I wish I were in Portugal."

"Why?"

"So I could sit out in the garden and read a book in the sunshine."

"You're doing that right now," I say to myself. "Focus RIGHT HERE, In This Moment. You have what you want."

I was having breakfast with Miggy but I was so sad because I had to go to work and leave him. I thought, "I wish I were self-employed again."

I asked myself, "Why do you wan to be self-employed again?"

"So I can spend time with Miggy."

"You're doing that right now. Focus RIGHT HERE, In This Moment. You have what you want."

It's like the grass is always greener in the future or in a different location. Reading a book in a Portuguese garden next year sounds way more appealing than reading a book in a Hawaiian garden right now. In the future, life is idyllic - it has a glowy perfection around it. But when the future arrives, it's just life, normal life. 

This little mantra is reminding me each day that RIGHT NOW, In This Moment, is where I belong and knowing that I'm right where I belong seems to make everything seem so much better.