Amy: Hello listeners! This is Amy Smalley reminding you this holiday season that sometimes the very best present you can give your family is…...being….present.

Michael: Oh Amy….

Amy: What? You don’t get it? It’s present like a gift but also like you know the present….

Michael: Oh no I get it, listeners I’m so sorry I think that may be the last time I let Amy open the show.

Amy: Hey, everybody loves puns they’re so, punny.

Michael: oh no.

Amy: You should probably put me in a punitentiary

Michael: Listeners I’m so sorry I promise today’s episode will not in fact be about puns. We are going to talk about how you need to make sure you remain present this holiday season so you don’t miss out on all the wonderful memories happening all around you.

Amy: So to find out about how to wrap up this present of presence, stay tuned!

Teaser for Distraction of the Day:

I’m pretty excited about driverless cars but I just learned something from a legitimate scientific study that shows why driverless cars will be the greatest invention of our time! Amy, can you guess what would get me overly excited?

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“Being in the present moment, or the “here and now,” means that we are aware and mindful of what is happening at this very moment. We are not distracted by ruminations on the past or worries about the future, but centered in the here and now. All of our attention is focused on the present moment (Thum, 2008).”

As author Myrko Thum tells it, the present moment is all there truly is:
“The present moment is the only thing where there is no time. It is the point between past and future. It is always there and it is the only point we can access in time. Everything that happens, happens in the present moment. Everything that ever happened and will ever happen can only happen in the present moment. It is impossible for anything to exist outside of it.”

Staying healthy this holiday season is about staying in the present.

• Fight anxiety
• Decrease worrying and over thinking
• Stay grounded
• Be connected to the people and events happening around you.

So why don’t we live in the present:

• We keep ourselves busy
• We overwhelm ourselves with the need to take pictures and document EVERYTHING and forget to enjoy what is actually happening in that moment
• Our phones
• We often edit out the bad parts of our experiences, making our past seem more enjoyable than it really was.
• We face a lot of uncertainty when we live in the present, which can cause anxiety.
• Our minds simply tend to wander!
• We don’t obey Jesus or trust him.

'“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.' Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

James 4:13–17 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Think about the past in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the past for a reason (e.g., to re-live a pleasant experience, identify where you went wrong, or figure out the key to a past success).

Think about the future in small doses, and make sure you are focusing on the future in a healthy, low-anxiety way (e.g., don’t spend time worrying about the future, think about the future just long enough to prepare for it and then move on).

Stay in the present moment for the vast majority of your time.

The worst thing you can do this holiday season is burden your friends and family with your worries about the future. The holiday’s are a special time when we as a community can get together and celebrate each other. They remind us that there are people in our lives who love and appreciate us; who want to spend time together. Please my dear listeners don’t wreck your season by burdening yourself with thoughts about all the things you need to do in the future. You alone control your inner dialogue, you alone can change the script and you alone can control whether or not you remain in the moment. No one can do it for you, it is a choice that you have to make for yourself. Take the time to actively remind yourselves to stay in the moment and enjoy the holidays! You deserve it.

Distraction of the Day:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/driverless-cars-will-lead-to-more-sex-in-cars-study-finds-2018-11-12