If only ...

If only, I had more time.

If only, I had more money.

If only, I got that promotion ... that new job ... a new car.

We've all been there. We wish our lives away sometimes. If I could only survive this week at work. Or, once I finish with this project, I'm going to fill-in-the-blank ... write the Great American Novel ... get a new job ... start working out ... lose weight.

We've all been there.

I read a passage in the Book of Awakening the other day about straying from the moment. Once you stray from where you are in the moment, you create a tension between where you are and where you want to be. And this tension blocks you from being truly alive.

The moment you quit living in the moment and start thinking about something else, you set yourself adrift. Lost in the moment of where you need to be and thinking about where you want to be, think you need to be, wish you could be. Your efforts cease moving you forward in this life and put you in a perpetual daydream. It becomes less about doing and achieving and more about wishing.

There's nothing wrong with having a dream, a daydream, a pipe dream. But you'll never achieve the life you want or deserve, if you stop moving forward. It's human nature to drift off, we all do it.

But the key is recognizing when that moment of relaxation or wistful thinking becomes a block to achieving your dreams. Living for the moment also means realizing where you are in that moment and seizing the opportunity. I've heard it said - "The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers, but most importantly, the world needs dreamers who do."

How many moments will pass before you realize your life has left you behind?