Let your problems lead you to gratutude

Be Happy Now!

It takes practice living every moment of now and being content with it. Yes there are troublesome experiences, but the key is not to be troubled. Can you think of an adult that lives this way?

For most of us, life seems to whiz by and before we know it another day, week, month, season, year has passed and we know we've missed a lot because we were thinking about the past or the future.

It's time to be happy NOW, not when our circumstances are different!

When you deepen your relationship with YOU and take the time to look at yourself with new eyes every day and truly honor the holiness within you, your circumstances change in beautiful ways. Your problems give an opportunity to learn to know yourself better. So, whether you're living in a mess at home, in a relationship that's frustrating, feeling a financial crunch, in a body weighing too much or all of the above, let solving your problems start with going within in gratitude for your life (the only one you've been given) and sensing the truth that you're not alone and all is well.

Self-improvement is a lifetime path, but it's a pursuit that doesn't lead to a place where everything is perfect. When you reach what you thought was your final destination, you'll find that you have farther to go. Yippee skippee for that!

Think about how fun it is to "want" something you "know" you'll receive. Don't you think that's why it's so fun to fall in love? You want that person and you know you're going to get him because he wants you, too. Then you get him. (That's fun too, but never as fun as the getting part.)

You love teachers that let you know in a loving way that having what you want is doable. Having a home free of clutter and confusion is doable. If my sister and I could get organized so can you. Because we got organized that can give you hope. Get excited about the possibility. I can tell you, when you get organized and your home is peaceful, clutter-free and an oasis from the hectic world, it will just be a platform for you to do and be more.

A wonderful gift: YOU! "There will never be an arriving, only a continuation of the quest; so you'd better have fun on the way." I wrote that in The Sidetracked Sister's Happiness File more than 20 years ago. Oprah touted a book, Women Food and God by Geneen Roth. She had Roth on her show and she talked about the negative connotation of the phrase "full of yourself." Geneen said, "Be really, really full of yourself." That sounds awful until you think about it. "We ARE adored," but no one ever tells us that because it's kind of an unused word unless we're using it in a religious sense. "We ARE loved" goes right over our heads because we overuse the word "love." "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm loved, what's for dinner?"

I heard Esther Hicks tell of her neighbor's cat. They named her "Party Cat," because whenever they had a party the cat would always come over. Well, Party Cat was at one of their parties and was getting petted and talked to and she got in a chair and rolled over on her back and just basked in the love that was bestowed on her and someone asked the cat, "What do you do to deserve this?" Everyone laughed, because they knew that the cat deserved the love and attention by just being a cat.

We are just like Party Cat. We don't have to do anything to deserve the love that God has for us. What we can do is start practicing basking in that love and being happy right now regardless of our situation.

It's so easy to do really. Start by catching yourself complaining, whining or negatively thinking about something and once you've made the catch start thinking about all your blessings. Gratitude is like sulfuric acid when it comes to dissolving worry, anger, depression and a long list of negative words. It takes a little practice, but practice makes it easier and easier. Yes, it's time to be happy

NOW. So be it!

For more from Pam Young go to www.cluborganized.com. You’ll find many musings, videos of Pam in the kitchen preparing delicious meals, videos on how to get organized, lose weight and get your finances in order, all from a reformed SLOB’s point of view.