Living in the Present Moment (Partial Repost)

I am in the middle of a move, which means goodbye reality, hello every form of escape within my grasp. I'm not very good at detaching. Whether it's envisioning how to decorate my new space and make my artistic "mark", or nostalgically recalling (and sometimes regretting) the past and all these objects associated with memories, I am realizing how much bondage I am under. Seriously, do I need all these objects, these temporal things distracting me from embracing the joy of the present moment? I don't think so. And joy has been hard to find. Tears have been easier. I HATE the idea of moving. I LOVE being in the woods and are starting attach the "all-isms" you attach with a love you are moving away from- it was "always this way", I "never" did this, this "always" brought out this emotion... and, the most dangerous of them all, "I was THIS while I was here"...
Places, things, memories, imagination: these are not WHO I am. There is no place for love in an unreality.
I am reposting something I came across this morning that was a great re-focusing tool. I hope you will check it out:
http://www.ichoseyou.com/college.html

Here's a selection from it:

A sign outside a pub reads "Free beer tomorrow!" The next day the sign will be there. Do you remember hearing the phrase: "Time is flying!" Indeed, time passes relentlessly; some times we wish we had a remote control to stop or to fast-forward it.

The ancient Romans used to say: "Carpe diem", seize the day, meaning: "Don't waste it, enjoy it." In Renaissance Florence, late 1400's, a poem, loosely translated, went like this: "Oh how beautiful the time of youth is, and yet it runs away from us; he who wants to be happy, be happy because there may not be a tomorrow." "He who wants to be happy." is the refrain that goes through all the poem. Certainly this is not a Christian vision of life.

In the light of Sacred Scripture, time is seen in a quite different perspective.

In the New Testament there are numerous exhortations to live in the present: "So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Mt 6,34); Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4,6); "Unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you (1 Pt 5,7).

...Christians in Europe who lived during World War II, when there were continual bombings and were not sure if they would be alive in the next moment, concentrated on the moment they had available at the present to love God and their neighbors.

Chiara Lubich was one of those Christians who experienced this reality when she wrote: "The Lord taught us to live the present moment in various ways. In the Gospel for instance, it is evident that we should live the present moment, because we are told to ask the Father for bread only for "this day". "Give us this day our daily bread" and we learn that "today has troubles enough of it own" (Mt. 6:34); and we are warned: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Lk. 9:62)." As a follower of Jesus Christ, we don't look back, rather with our hearts fixed in Eternity and our feet on the ground we look at this moment and we are challenged: " Your Kingdom come!"

In reading the lives of the Saints, Chiara realized that we could imitate them in the way they did the will of God in the present moment. Here is what some of them said: Catherine of Siena: "The fatigue of the past is no longer ours, because its time has gone; what is to come we do not possess, because we are not sure if its time will ever come."

Another saint from the third century was Anthony the abbot. His biography said: "He took no account of the time which had passed, but day by day, as if beginning his life as a monk for the first time, he made great efforts to advance, constantly repeating to himself Saint Paul's words: 'I forget the past and strain ahead for what is still to come' (Phil. 3:13-14).

St. Therese' of the Little Flower is another expert on how to live the present moment. She said:
"Let's take advantage of every single moment of our suffering, let's us see each instant as if there were no other. An instant is a treasure…""My life is a flash of lightning, an hour that passes, a moment that fast escapes me and is gone. My God, you know that to love you on earth I have nothing but today." Do you love Jesus in the present moment or are you distracted and thinking that someday you are going to start loving Him? "Free beer tomorrow!"