living in the moment

Have you heard of life coaches?  I was talking to friend recently who told me a life coach had totally changed the lives of two people she knew.  How?  Simply by helping these two people change their perspective.  Can a change in perspective have that profound an effect?

Living in the moment is something I am really working  on.  I am trying not to have regrets about the past or get too crazy about planning for the future.  How many times have I thought if I could just manage to get everything ‘just so’,  I could relax…it is an easy way to miss the moment.   Sometimes it is hard not to think about how different things could be with one little change.

I remember after seeing the movie A Bronx Tale years ago – a great movie about the Bronx during the 1960’s that was Robert DeNiro’s directorial debut (wonderful music – get the soundtrack!) –  I wondered how the young boy’s whole life would have changed if he just didn’t live near the Sonny character! Contemplating the answer to that question was a big motivator for me on whom and what I would surround my kids with as they grew up.  Our environment obviously has a huge effect on who we are and how we perceive life.

How can one moment  change your life?  Are you up for a challenge to participate in an exercise to change your perspective?  If so, I have two pieces of ‘homework’ you might want to consider completing:

1.  Read the book Q:  A Novel  by Evan J. Mandery.  It is a very thought-provoking book that will help you appreciate your own life and consider the consequences of actions carefully.  The author has a cool way of using pop culture references to illustrate his points.

2. Watch the 1998 movie Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow.  Here is a little preview:

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/screenplay/vi1557175833/

A great illustration on how the change of a single action can change everything!

For me, I want to live in the moment, but be aware that all I do does have consequences… so I need to do the best I can do, in all I do…without getting too crazy – since some things are just simply out of my control.  And, changing perspective is always a good thing…what did you see in the cloud photo in the beginning of this post…from my perspective it was a mermaid :)

Let me know your thoughts :)