TAKING IT ONE DAY AT A TIME

Without us perhaps quite noticing, much of what we place our hopes in will be ready for us in a very long time indeed, in months or even decades from now: the successful completion of a novel, a sufficient sum of money to buy a house or begin a new career, the discovery of a suitable partner, a move to another country.

But occasionally, life places us in a situation where our normal long-range hopeful way of thinking grows impossible. You've lost a huge amount of money on an investment you were certain was going to be your breakthrough. And coupled with the fact that you borrowed half of the money from the bank makes it even harder to see a silver lining. The economic downturn has made your standard of living poor and you're kept wondering about your future and when things are going to get better. For someone else it's being at home now after university with no job prospects in the horizon and having to depend on one's family and the benevolence of friends and loved ones to survive.

When someone asks how things are, one answer seem to be our go-to: we're taking it one day at a time. One-day-at-a-time-thinking reminds us that, in many cases, our greatest frenemy is hope that sometimes brings with it, impatience. By limiting our horizons to tonight, we are girding ourselves for the long haul and remembering that an improvement may best be achieved when we manage not to await it too ardently.

Taking it day by day means reducing the degree of control we expect to be able to bring to bear on the uncertain future. It means recognizing that we have no serious capacity to exercise our will on a span of years and should not therefore disdain a chance to secure a one or two minor wins in the hours ahead of us. We must appreciate and celebrate the little wins when we get them.

We should - from a new perspective- count ourselves immensely grateful if, by nightfall, we've got some good food to eat from our loving family, someone has complimented us on our hair and we have been able to finally finish the book we started last month and a friend from school has called to check up on us.

Given the scale of what we are up against and being aware that we can't control the future, knowing that perfection may never occur, and that far worse things can happen to us at any time, we can stop to accept with fresh gratitude a few minor gifts that are already within our grasp.

It's normal enough to hold out for all that we want. Why would we celebrate hobbling, when we want to run? Why accept ordinary when we crave exceptional? But if we reach the end of the day and we are alive, no limbs have been broken, we've written a few lines in our new book, and one or two encouraging things have been said to us , then that's already an achievement worthy of a place at the altar of sanity.

How natural and tempting to put one's faith in the bountifulness of the years, but how much wiser it might be to bring all one's faculties of appreciation and love to bear on that most modest and most easily-dismissed of increments: the day already in hand.

Kindly share and comment on how we can be appreciative even in tough times and not despair.

Have a remarkable weekend beautiful people!!!

INSPIRATION: SCHOOL OF LIFE