Oct
05

Enjoying the Journey

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October 5, 2007

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.
-Greg Anderson

We have never nor will we ever know any moment other than this moment. It is eternity. Tomorrow is not here, it is not reality. Yesterday, or even five minutes ago, does not exist. The experiences of the past are memories: thoughts from which you can choose your focus and learn. All of life’s stresses come from regrets over the past and concerns over the future which do not exist in this moment: and it is always this moment.

The excerpt above is from my post, Living in the Moment.

Suspending Happiness

When we set goals for the future and draw motivation from these goals, it is important not to suspend our happiness until a goal is complete. We can enjoy planning and fantasizing the realization of our goals. We can enjoy watching the progress, moving in the desired direction and celebrating milestones as yesterday’s post, Celebrating Milestones, suggests.

No matter what we accomplish in life, there will always be more to accomplish. When one project is complete, another will take its place. Even spiritual milestones are followed by continued spiritual growth toward another milestone. It is easy to spend all of our days looking forward to the next day and missing today.

Construction stoplight on Going-to-the-sun road in Glacier National Park, Montana A stoplight controlling construction traffic on Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier National Park, Montana. It wasn’t hard to enjoy this journey.

Life Really is a Journey

Most of us will spend most of our time working toward goals and very little time reveling in their completion. If happiness and enjoyment are reserved for the completions, most of life will be lived in unhappiness. Motivation can not be sustained very long without joy.

Find Joy Now

Don’t wait for joy to come in the end. Find it now. Find it in the small tasks you complete every minute, in the progress you see, in your abilities, in the lessons you learn along the way, in the people around you and in every moment you’re alive.

This post is part 6 of a series: Motivation to Complete Your Goals.

Continue on to the next article on the motivation building process:

About the author

Danny

I am Danny Kohn, writer and designer for this site and owner, software engineer and consultant for Inspirations Software Design. My three greatest passions in life are sharing time with my family, software design and sharing inspiration with others. I have the incredible privilege of being able to spend a significant amount of time every day doing each of those three things. I am a single father of Tristen, our 6 year old son. It has been such an incredible joy to watch him grow up and learn so much. Everything he does and says overwhelms me with adoration. We have a wonderful evening ritual of reading books together in a beanbag chair. Nearly every night, we have a laughing attack together. I smile and giggle constantly in his presence and feel truly inspired.

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