I had a wonderful discussion with a group of friends this afternoon, which I thought worth-sharing and worth-pondering. Over the years, I’ve heard people share their plans, dreams, and goals about what they want to do when they retire. Some are quite vivid and detailed, some are simple yet joyful – golfing and fishing with friends, painting, Latin dancing, learning piano, volunteer traveling, learning a new language in its country, exploring a culture by living with the natives for a few months, starting a business, buying a camper and traveling the states, pursuing genealogy and going to the countries of their ancestor’s origins, going on a safari, and many more.  When asked why they have to wait until they retire to start manifesting these plans, the usual response is, “I work hard and save my money now, then live my dream when I don’t need to worry about showing up at work anymore.”  In the past, I never gave this answer too much thought, I thought that was what most people did – work hard, save money, do things when retired. Today’s discussion about manifesting what we want has given me quite a revelation …

Eight years ago, my husband and I downsized our life and moved into a one-story condo, a third the size of the house we lived in for the 10 years prior. When we were doing a blowout moving sale, my husband found a lot of things, still in boxes in the storage room, which were shipped as personal effects when I moved from my home country to Minnesota.  As he was helping sort out which things would move with us and which ones would find their new homes, he mentioned something that made me think. “These are beautiful things … when do you plan to use them?” For the right time, the good company, important occasions, was my answers. When do you think those time will be? I had been living in that house for 10 years and all of the things were still in boxes. I didn’t even remember I had them, didn’t even think to open those boxes until we had to move.  I brought many beautiful things from my home country, yet I didn’t display, use, and enjoy them.  What qualifies as the right time, the good company, and an important occasion? Can anyone relate to this experience?

Why do we wait to enjoy life? Why don’t we start doing what we want while we have our health and our energy, while we’re younger, productive, and can enjoy it to the fullest? Most of the time, those who wait until they retire usually can’t truly enjoy what they want because poor health gets in the way. (I know a number of these people). The money they save while working hard is now paying for getting their health cared.  I drew a similar analogy to my way of enjoying the beautiful things I had and didn’t use.  I bought those things to be enjoyed, not just by others I might entertain, but most importantly by me. I am as important and valuable as anyone else to enjoy the things I bought with the money I earned.  Delaying the enjoyment of things I have and are here, which is life itself, is similar to treating myself as less valuable, as if I don’t deserve to enjoy them.  Inspiration comes from being and creating something, small things that evolve and expand into large and meaningful ones. Life becomes worth-living that way.  This revelation helps me feel more adventurous.  That’s what living in the moment is all about.

Would you make delicious tea/coffee in the morning and then wait until the afternoon to drink it?  Then why wait to live fully, why not fully alive now?  Feel free to download “3 Keys to Living Your Inspired Life” by visiting www.ingemaskun.com – then share your thoughts here.

#nodelay #manifestnow #liveinthemoment #livingyourinspiredlife #ingemaskun