I was looking through my closet a few days ago.

I found a souvenir from a trip I went on, with my family, many years ago. It was a little ball from Universal Studios, in Florida.

Looking at the ball, I had an immediate flashback to the time I was on that vacation, and all I could remember was being happy.

I analyzed the memory, and a trail of other fond memories I have, and realized there exists a unanimous quality; I was completely and fully present in all of those moments.

It’s an interesting exercise.

Look back at any of your memories, and I’m certain that in that memory, you weren’t thinking about something else in that time. You were there. You were fully immersed in whatever it was.

It could’ve been the best, or worst day of your life. But you were 100% there.

I think memories of these situations expose a truth about the world. To look back at your most cherished memories is a reminder of all the times you were truly living.

Instead of harping on the lack thereof, perhaps it’s a good exercise to motivate you to start living now.

Start living now, and perhaps you won’t feel the need to look back.

I think when Eckhart Tolle said,

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

he embodies the sentiment I’m going for.