The boundaries of the past and future are constantly shifting and with them shifts the present; isn’t that thought you have in this very moment bygone a second later? Life brings you new situations every second. What you thought about a minute ago is already in the past and a new thought is already unfolding.

Throughout our whole life we focus on the things we wish we had and the things we want to accomplish, rather than being grateful for what we have and what we already achieved in life. Living this kind of lifestyle is a never-ending race for happiness and fulfillment. Pursuing the things we do not have / the needs we want to satisfy with the attempt to experience happiness and fulfillment through them is a never ending race, without being able to feel true happiness and fulfillment, even when achieving the targeted goals and tangibles.

Living in the moment is essential for being happy. Happiness is nothing you can think about, even if you might have been happy in the past and if you know that you will be happy in the future. You can only experience happiness by feeling it in the very moment. The happiness you experience is not dependent on tangibles and wealth, but depends on the ability to be grateful for the things you have in life.

One of the most common things people try to accomplish is wealth, which helps them to be able to afford all different sorts of tangibles. The motive behind this pursuit of money is the hope to find fulfillment and happiness by gathering it. But, as soon as a person gains abundance they seek for more because money, tangibles and wealth do not truly fulfill.  As a result, this person will try to reach the next level of his hierarchy of needs, for instance self-actualization but also the attempt to gain more power, etc.

Living in the moment, however, allows you to be truly grateful for the wonderful things you have in this very moment, no matter if it is health or the fact that you have a lovely family. By living in the moment you are not dependent on the accomplishment of wealth, tangibles or anything else in order to become happy as you are already able to appreciate and love the very moment, which makes you happy. Furthermore, it helps you to realize that the pursuit of material things or needs with the attempt to find fulfillment and happiness will fail and end in a viscous circle of desiring, pursuing and achieving, without reaching the desired destination (happiness). Goals and hopes are not real in the present situation, as they are just thoughts and dreams that do not exist, yet. You cannot feel or experience them and should not rely on them to make you any happier at all, when realized. Even more important: the things you desire won’t make you any happier at all, if you aren’t able to be thankful for what you already have. In fact, you will never experience true happiness and fulfillment by accomplishing the various things on our “personal hierarchy of needs”, as these needs are constantly shifting, as soon as you satisfy one of them.