It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live

Cross-posted from my Google+ account.


As you might imagine, I love the Hairless (Harry Potter) series.  I particularly relish listening to Hairless, as read by Jim Dale.  The other night, I was listening to the first book, again, and heard the part where Harry is met by Dumbledore, standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, gazing longingly at his deceased family.  Dumbledore encourages Harry to live in the present, giving the quote of this post's title:  "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

I love what a modern-day prophet had to say on this subject, as well:  "We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. 'This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,' the Psalmist wrote. 'Rejoice and be glad in it.'"  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng

Or, as another modern-day prophet quoted from The Music Man, a few years ago, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng

I hope we can all find and accept happiness and joy in life, now, rather than consistently telling ourselves, as Harry does, when tiredly searching for a solution to breathing under water in the Goblet of Fire, "In the next book . . . the next one, . . . the next one."  We can choose to be happy, now!