How often have you said to yourself, "I'd be happy if .........." or "I'll be happy when .........." Most of the time we manage to convince ourselves that we'll be happy when we achieve something, like when we lose some weight, get good results, find a loving relationship, get married, have a baby or achieve some other goals. But when the goal is accomplished, we find that we have new goals to work towards to and happiness just seems to be beyond our reach.

As we grow older, we learn to postpone our pleasures and our happiness, feeling that everything will be better in the future. A typical example will be that of a student who thinks that he will be happy when he gets his university degree. So he studies hard and got his degree but then he realises that he can't be happy until he has a job. He gets his job but has to start at the bottom of the ladder, thus he still can't be happy yet. As years pass, he continues to postpone his happiness until he gets married, starts buying a home. gets a better job, raises a family, gets the kids into school, gets the kids out of school, retires and then drops dead before he allows himself to be happy. All his present moments were spent planning for a wonderful future which never arrived. Are you guilty of postponing your happiness too?

The point here is that none of us can guarantee that we will still be here tomorrow. NOW is all that we have got. Live in the moment and the present. Don't dwell in the past or worry about the future. Deal with right now. "Right Now" is a gift, that's why it is also known as the "Present". If you make the best use of the present, the future will take care of itself and happiness will follow. On the other hand, if you aren't living in the present, you will be guaranteed misery. You will either be whining about the sad past or worrying about the depressing future.

Living in the present simply means that we enjoy whatever we are doing for its own sake and not just for the end result. Whenever we are living in the present moment, we drive fear from our mind as fear is concern with events which might happen some time in the future. Of course I am not implying that we don't set our goals or plan for our future but do it not at the expense of our present happy moments.

Happiness is a journey, not the destination.

Real, true and lasting happiness isn't found in adventure or excitement. It is not obtained through pleasing other people or driving ourselves towards some imaginary state of perfection. It is only found in quiet contentment, faith, hope and tranquility. Thus, let true happiness come out from deep within you and take its rightful place at the centre of your life. Live NOW and BE HAPPY.