“How shall I experience my oneness with creation?”
“By listening,” said the Master.
“And how am I to listen?”
“Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The moment you hear something you yourself are saying, stop.”
Anthony de Mello
The best way to boost positivity, according to Barbara Fredrickson Ph.D, researcher and author of Positivity, is to live in the moment.
If you can be present to what you are experiencing right now – whether you are having breakfast, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, driving the car or attending a meeting – you’ll significantly increase your chances of feeling positive. “ Our interpretations of our immediate circumstances define our emotions” she says “and we have a lot more choice about those interpretations than we give ourselves credit for”. Turn our focus to the now ( for example, reading this blog post, working at your desk) and you will have less space in your head for negative thoughts. In addition, you’ll feel more grounded and creative when tackling the many challenges that the day offers.
Give yourself a break from the Snowball Effect of your Thoughts
If you have done the first two practices in this series, you will have noticed 
how difficult it is just to be quiet or present to nature. Our minds get drawn away by the continual spinning effect of our thoughts. One thought leads to another, and yet another, until you feel agitated or upset or worried. If we get stressed, this can almost feel like a “thought attack.” When you notice your thoughts starting to spin, consciously ground your posture and use awareness of your breathing to create a space before they build a momentum. Try to shift your focus back to the present moment, to this period of quiet or to the sights of nature. Even a five minutes gap from our continual planning and ruminating can have an effect on our health.
To love is, above all, to be there. But being there is not an easy thing. Some training is 
necessary, some practice. If you are not there, how can you love? Being there is very much an art, the art of meditation, because meditating is bringing your true presence to the here and now. The question that arises is: Do you have time to love?
Thich Nhat Hahn
The deep meaning of many rules of conduct and more principles of the past — so many 
of which have been abandoned without our understanding their real roots in human nature — involved the cultivation and development of the uniquely human power of attention, its action in the body, heart and mind of man. To be present, truly present, is to have conscious attention. This capacity is the key to what it means to be human.
It is not, therefore, the rapidity of change as such that is the source of our problem of time. It is the metaphysical fact that the being of man is diminishing.
I am reading some books by Stephen Levine. He has worked extensively with those who 
are dying, and writes about grief and loss. What he has found is that many arrive at the end of their life with regrets, wishing that they had done this or that, lived more fully here or there, realized their potential in this way or that. This has led him to emphasize living each moment fully, not limiting ourselves in this moment to our past or waiting for our future, in order to have no regrets:
Most of life only lasts a moment. Then our life becomes a memory, a dream. We are only alive a millisecond at at time. This moment! Or as one teacher put it, holding his thumb and forefinger about a quarter inch apart, “All of life is only just this much–just a moment in time.” When we open to this very instant in which awareness produces consciousness, we are fully alive. Completely preent. Big-minded.
To the degree we are present for “just this much” this living moment, we are alive. Otherwise we numb to the vibrancy and beg upon our deathbed for one more chance.
Most think that living a “full life” means living into old age. But if you are not alive this moment, what makes you think you’ll be alive then? To live fully is to be filled with this moment. Present for this millisecond, this day, this week, this life.”
Stephen and Ondrea Levine, Embracing the Beloved
In this he echoes the words of Daniel Gilbert in his book Stumbling on Happiness. He too draws attention to not neglecting to do the things we want, to dare to choose certain paths that open up in front of us.
... most people think they will regret foolish actions more than foolish inactions. But studies show that nine out of ten people are wrong. Indeed, in the long run, people of every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.
