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now or never


Revisiting a post from 2013 as I recover from shoulder surgery this week.


Sometimes I am impatient. I don't want to wait for a thing to happen. Just like Veruca Salt, I want it now. Whether it's the 15 pounds I want to lose, the essays I want to write, the projects I want to finish, the places I want to visit, the books I want to read...it doesn't matter what it is, really. There are just times when I want it done. 


Maybe you have the same experience. Maybe you want to change your job. Maybe you want to move. Maybe you want to join the choir or paint the bedroom. Maybe you want to be healthy again or strong. Maybe you want to learn the banjo or be a more spiritual person. 


Well, here's the thing. There is nothing but now. Think about that for a moment. The past is over, done, gone. The future -- that time when we imagine we will be "done" or "there" or "finished" is merely a thought, a shadow, a non-reality until it is...a now. Hmm. So all this wanting, all this wishing, all this planning, all this impatience is really a flaw in our thinking. We are always only in one moment. We are constantly creating our life and fashioning the story of who we are. Many people have said it many ways. 

  • Let go of the story and return to the only place of power: the present moment. -- Eckhardt Tolle

  • He who sees the inaction that is in action, and the action that is in inaction, is wise indeed. -- Bhagavad-Gita

  • Transformation is not a future event. -- Jillian Michaels

  • The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness, and knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream. -- Kahlil Gibran

  • Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. -- Aesop  

  • The job is to become both actor and spectator, to act in and, at the same time, watch the play. -- Robert S. deRopp

  • Now is the accepted time. -- II Corinthians

  • It's like deja vu all over again. -- Yogi Berra


Wherever you find inspiration, take it and let go of impatience. There is nothing you need to wait for. There is nothing more important, more creative, more generative or more spiritual in your life than "now." As Ram Dass put it, “Be here now.”


Enjoy this week and stay present in every moment.


1/13/2025

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