Life is filled with awesomeness – there is an infinite amount of things to enjoy, events to experience, sensations to feel.

However, there may be some obstacles on the way to experiencing it:

You can fall into the habit of taking it all for granted, when something objectively cool becomes quotidian.

You can be enveloped in fearful belief that something will go wrong and not even allow yourself to experience it.

If you combine the two together – oh boy it becomes a miserable experience…

You will be afraid of “negative” and run away from a lot of things that can bring immense joy.

At the same time, you won’t notice and be glad for the small things you already have in life…

It all becomes a shitty self-perpetuating cycle of running after some illusory goal that “should” bring happiness (which it actually won’t) and being miserable all the way…

What if instead of defining every moment in life as “good” or “bad” it would all just be there.

There is something you enjoy or not.
Something that brings happiness or sadness.

It can all be embraced in its own way.

There is beauty in everything you encounter in your life.
It may just require you some practice to see it.

I am talking about the opportunity to feel joyful and loving even in the most darkest moments.

Does it sound enticing?

Or does it seem scary to allow it?

It is ok to be wary – I certainly was, for a long time. But at the same time, in some deepest corners of my mind, I knew that something like that could be possible and it would actually make my life better.

I just had to work my way towards accepting and being able to notice it.

Believe me, it will make your life magnitudes better to integrate that philosophy.

For the first time it came from me while watching a movie called Arrival (it is absolutely beautiful by the way, I highly recommend it)

Without spoiling, it is essentially a movie about choices and that painful moments don’t shape your life.
They even add to it, allowing to feel joyful ones even more.

When I first watched it, I knew – there are some huge nuggets of wisdom in it.
After watching it a couple of times more I had a thought that changed my approach to life:

“This is how I want my life to be! While knowing the journey I will take, both the good and the bad moments I will experience and its end, I choose to embrace every second of it”.

Or the more concise version:

– Embrace Every Moment

This became one of my core philosophies.

You cannot have “good” things without something “bad” happening along the way.

It is just not how the world works – it is the reality that absolutely everything comes in cycles.

There is nothing truly infinite and immortal.

And why would you want it to be that anyway?

How highly would you treasure something that you know you will always have?

Why would you take a moment to give credit to it, when you can do it “tomorrow”?

It is “inefficient” – so the mind just won’t do it.

Here comes the beauty of the “bad” or “painful” moments – they allow you to actually enjoy life when you stop running away from them.

To mention it again – when you stop avoiding the opportunities for both “good” and “bad”, logically you will just have more of both – meaning you will get more of the joy and love in life.

Even thinking of extreme pain and loss – breakups, moving away or the death of someone close to me…

I cannot consider anything as “bad” anymore.

Of course, I will probably be sad and grieving for a while, probably a long time.

But feeling it is another reminder of how much joy and happiness they brought into my life.

No one can take that away – it will remain in my memory forever.

When accepting these painful moments before they actually happen, you stop being afraid of them.

You start to enjoy the present even more.

You cherish every second you get to spend with that person, being in that place or having that opportunity.

You may ask, is it worth it? Can joy actually “cancel” pain?

You know, after everything I experienced, utilizing all practices of gratitude, letting go and being present, I came to this conclusion:

The “Bad” comes, goes, comes again, goes again…
The “Good” comes and stays with us forever.

I would say that after this realization there are no “good” and “bad” anymore.

There remains just the reality – the present – the NOW.

Without sticking labels on them, you experience emotions to their fullest – sadness, joy, happiness, love.

There remains only peace about it all.

It is worth it to feel love and gratitude for every second of life.

To Embrace Every Moment