Worry, anxiety, and ambition robs you of the gift of what is coming to you now. Of course, it’s possible that your now is full of pain. Perhaps you have cancer. Maybe a loved one has died and you’re full of grief. You might be living with depression or someone has betrayed you or you’re losing your business. And frankly, now is not where you want to be. But the truth is, right now you are not dead, even if cancer’s trying to kill you. Right now you might be broke, but there’s still life in you. Yes, you might be telling yourself all kinds of stories about how bad things are, how things might be different “if only,” how trapped you feel. And yes, these videos seem to play in your mind unceasingly, dragging you into the past and paralyzing you as you look toward the future.

But they’re not real, not really. They may have been real, and they might become real, but they are not real right now.

Right now, the birds are singing. You’re breathing. Blood is moving through your veins. There is someone, somewhere who loves you. The sun is shining above, even if it’s raining around you. In this moment, things are not as bad as your mind tells you they are. In this moment—if you can wake up from the dream long enough—there is enough beauty to give you pleasure, to gift you with an exquisite and unexplainable happiness.