PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_May 2019 | Page 27

WELLNESS & HEALTH C o r n e r
Where Do You Live?
BRIAN M. MOSKOWITZ
Where do you live? No, not your address -
where do you live on the timeline of your
life? Do you live in the past, the present, or
the future?
Most people live in the future based on
their past. How’s that for a brain twister?
What I mean is they spend their time in the
present, thinking about the future, through
the lens of the past.
Maybe it’s time to change your address and
move to the present.
“Yesterday is History,
Tomorrow is a Mystery,
and Today is a Gift.
That’s why it’s called the Present.”

That meeting you have planned for next
week, when you think about it right
now how do you feel? How about that
conversation you’ve been putting off with a
loved one? Or that night out with friends
this weekend?
The way you feel right now about that future
event is based on your past experience
in similar situations. If past meetings
have been dreadful and boring, you will
most likely think the next meeting will be
dreadful and boring. If past nights out with
friends have been fun and exciting, you’ll
get excited just thinking about going out.
And by doing so, you’ve robbed yourself of
the present moment.
The present moment. Right here; right
now. You miss out on the present because
instead of experiencing the sights, sounds,
smells, tastes, and touch of the moment as
it envelops you, you experience it through
the mind’s expectation of how it should be.
And when you pre-judge the moment based
on an expectation pulled from your past,
you unconsciously behave in a way to meet
your expectations.
But what if the moment doesn’t meet your
expectations? What happens then? Go
back to a time when you had an expectation
that wasn’t met. What did you do? Did you
fight reality? Did you tell yourself it’s not
supposed to be this way? How did you feel?
What if you traded your expectations for
appreciation? What if you arrived at the
present moment with no expectation of the
outcome and just appreciated the moment
as is? How different would you feel?
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN
27
Brian M. Moskowitz is a Partner in the
West Palm Beach Office of Shutts & Bowen,
LLP, practicing Marital & Family Law. He
can be reached at BMoskowitz@shutts.
com.