Embracing the Moment

817 Days to Complete 101 Dreams Come True

My trip is finally together. Except for six nights of hotel accommodations and my airport transfers everything is booked. The trip will cost me a bit more than I thought and I'm beginning to wonder why I'm going during the winter. I originally booked this trip in March so I could see the Northern lights and ski, but unfortunately I'm not going to Norway because the weather wouldn't cooperate. Nor am I skiing in the Alps. When I began booking the ski trip I realized it wasn't that important to me. Instead, returning to Italy and staying in a small village became my heart's desire. This journey is a taking a strange path. Who goes to Europe in March in the cold and the rain? And now I found out it will cost me over $150 to bring more than a tiny suitcase on the economy airline.

So with all this in mind I began to wonder if I made a big mistake. But one of my dreams is to trust in a higher power always and if this trip is the one that came together after hours of research and days of work, then for some reason I'm supposed to take it at this time. It's getting hard to trust as the Realtor tells me to drop the price on my house, the book deal doesn't go through, and I'm spending money to go to Europe in the winter, but I'm working on letting go and enjoying the moment.

The moment is really all we have. The future hasn't happened and worrying and living in fear doesn't help anything. The moment can be destroyed with thoughts such as I'm cold and its rainy and I've spent the money on this trip and it doesn't live up to the fantasy. Or it can be, it's rainy so I will spend time in a museum or at a cafe or pub talking with the locals. I can only bring a small amount of luggage so the trip will stink because I'll be doing laundry all the time, or I will be super careful with what I bring and have a easier time moving around with my luggage. Life really is the way we choose to look at it. We can complain about what we are unhappy about, or we can embrace the circumstances and see how life will unfold.

As my friend put it this weekend, "There is so much to be grateful for each day: a flower, the sky, hugs, books, love. It's easy to look at the bad, but just as easy to look at the good."

I'm now off to try and pack the tiniest suitcase ever and see if I can do it.