How to Live in The Moment: Laugh Today

Coti Zavala
4 min readDec 26, 2020

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Often in life we get caught up in the past and we overthink on how we did things or on how things turned out. We overanalyze the how’s and the why’s and we lose the meaning behind it.

We also like to romanticize the future, we hope it holds better outcomes, that it brings us more money, more friends, more love. Essentially we dwell on the past and we dream of the future.

Sometimes we focus so much on how things happen and on what will happen in the future, that we forget to live in the present and to realize how and why we are in the present moment.

Living in the moment can be such a comforting way to live, it can allow us to gain infinite perspectives on our lives, and look at it with your eyes wide open. The thing is, that living in the moment is more than not thinking about the past and the future, but about acknowledging each and every thing that happens to us, good or bad. Allowing yourself to being aware can lead you to a whole new level of living, and I am going to help you tap into that fulfillment of life.

When something goes wrong in our lives or when something annoys us or makes us mad, we tend to “block”. We get so overflowed with those feelings that we deny the entry of good things that are already available to us. We get blocked off of the other perspectives on the situation, we are unable to see the good or better side of the situation.

Imagine you being stuck in traffic for 2 hours and as you’re about to get off the highway to the road to your house, a guy in another car tries to block you and almost crashes against you. You might feel overflowed with anger, feeling like this is the worst person on earth, feeling so annoyed and frustrated. You might be so overflowed that you get home and your feelings keep you stuck in that sense of anger that you are unable to tell your wife or husband that you love them that day.

A helpful technique to detaching yourself from situations that make you angry, annoyed, frustrated, or other feelings of “blocking” is to look at the you of the future. What does this mean? As you sit in the car and see this other car that almost crashed into you, before you can scream the heck out to that person, think of you in 2 weeks. In 2 weeks, this person who did not crash into you, but made you mad, is now irrelevant, in 2 weeks you won’t feel mad, so why should they be so relevant at making you feel or act in a certain way?

So, try using this technique in the worst of situations, when you lose your job, when your boyfriend breaks up with you, when you fail a test, when you lose your favorite earrings, etc. If you put it into perspective, whether it be 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years, you are able to let go of those feelings that take over your life and you are able to live in the present and realize the meaning behind what is happening. Don’t wait for the future to solve it, but take charge of your present.

When something bad happens, some people tend to say “one day we will all laugh about this”, but why not laugh today? Laugh at how you turned the moment around, laugh about the insignificance of a single moment in the rest of your day or your life. Laugh on the control you have on your life and on living it to the fullest.

If we open our perspectives when things happen, we see more possibilities in our lives, and if we see more possibilities, we have higher chances of achieving more of our goals.

So, I dare you today, to take the risk of finding perspective in your life and allowing yourself to live in the moment, to realize that things that happen in your life, happen so that you can react to them, and how you react to them is how you choose to start your future.

Look and live in your present, reacting and acting towards the future you want. Hit ’em with a smile and keep going!

I’m Coti and You’re Awesome!

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Coti Zavala

Trying to spread some inspiration and motivation! Student, writer, artist, tutor, friend whatever it is I want to use my experiences to enhance others' lives.