Taken from Higher Perspective, February 27, 2015

A major life principle of Buddhists is to live in the moment, the here and now, and not the past or future. It’s hard to do! We’re programmed from our births to plan for the future. Plan to go to college. Plan to go to a good college. Plan your career. Plan your vacations. Plan your family life. Plan your retirement. Why should we live in the moment?

1. This moment in time is all you have control over.

This moment right now and what you’re doing in it are all you’ll have control over. You can’t change your past and you can’t dictate your future. If things aren’t the way you want them to be right now in this moment, change them!

2. Every second of every day is a gift.

It was pretty unlikely that any of us would be born. The odds were pretty severely stacked against us getting a human vessel. What’s more, this life is going to end. Some think we’re reborn, but I don’t subscribe to that myself. We have to make each moment count in a big way. Tomorrow isn’t a promise.

3. Living in the moment reduces your stress.

When you stop dwelling on the past and trying to control your future, you find that the stress just melts away. You shouldn’t stress out about things that haven’t happened anyway.

4. Sometimes our plans don’t work out like we hope.

If we put all our eggs in the basket of our future hopes, dreams and plans, we set ourselves up for major failure. That failure can be crushing. But by living more in the moment, you don’t set yourself up for those failures as much.

5. You’ll just be happier in general.

The Buddhists were right – living in the moment will make you happier and help put you at peace. We need to learn to enjoy this moment, otherwise we may never truly appreciate our lives.
Read more at http://higherperspective.com/2015/02/5-reasons-live-moment.html#VDzA315ygkyM3t0i.99