Growing older is a different experience from any other I’ve had. One thing I love about it is that I feel as if I’ve arrived for the first time in my life. I’ve gotten to where I will be for the rest of my life, which is a liberating and exciting idea for me. There is nothing gloomy about the future to me. It is way beyond my control.

Like most people, I’ve always believed that happiness was possible only in the future. That kept me frightened because I thought I could worry about it and shape it and should.

I wasn’t happy for much of the time before now. “I have arrived” is an important idea.

I don’t need to travel any farther; I don’t need to prove anything to anyone, and I don’t need to bow to anyone or envy everyone. I still strive, but the only thing I desire is to love Maria deeply and make every day meaningful and fulfilling in one way or another.

I am here where I want and need to be; I can give myself peace, joy, and the sweetness of doing good and looking for good any time I want.

The conditions for my happiness are all in place for the first time in my life – Maria, my blog, the dogs, my photography, my friends, my farm, my daughter, my granddaughter, and the animals. How much richer could I ever hope to be?

All it takes is for me to learn to live in the present moment and live it as fully and as self-aware as possible. There is no reason to fear the future; I can’t know what it will bring, and nothing is frightening about today. The future is out of my hands. The past doesn’t matter. But I do need to pay close attention to now. That’s the path to happiness for me.

When I sit down and think, meditate, or walk, I permit myself to be in the moment right now, and when I do that, I can see and touch everything that makes me happy. That’s not a small miracle but a big one.