Buddha: "Be Where You Are"

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"Be where you are. Otherwise you'll miss your life."

I saw this abbreviated version of a Buddha quote the other day and it's stuck with me all week.

This is such good advice for a person like me. I'm a planner, so I'm often thinking toward the future. And I can be a bit of a fretter and worrier and occasionally find myself ruminating over past negative events. Sometimes I struggle to be in the present, to enjoy each and every moment for the precious bit of life that it is.

Buddha's wise words remind me to appreciate the happy little aspects of my day -- the warmth and softness of Conan and Lily snuggled up with me in bed when I wake up each morning, my favorite song coming on the radio on my way home from work, the technological miracle of talking to my husband via Skype while he's thousands of miles, the feel of yarn and knitting needles under my fingers, the simple joy of laughing with a friend over lunch...

I especially need to remember to be where I am during these last two months of Jarrod's deployment. I've done a pretty good job thus far of remembering to live, of not putting my life on hold just because my better half and best friend is gone. But now that the end is in sight, I find myself thinking about Jarrod's return and pining for my husband so much more. I hope Buddha's advice will help me remember to live in the present -- to be where I am -- despite the fact that I'm desperately looking forward to mid-September!