Only Now

Only Now.

A theme I will constantly return to, if only to remind myself.

Only that thing which you or I are experiencing right at this second. The past has gone. It can’t touch us for good or bad. The memories of the past are just that. They come and they go, but even they are happening NOW, not then. They aren’t “Then”.

It’s the sounds, sights, smells, and sensations we experience now, as we write or read or do whatever we are doing, that really matter.

We can get distracted of course. Lost in thoughts that try to drag us away from the present. But those thoughts are ethereal too, even if they lead to a lot of the suffering we experience. But really, they have no control of us unless we let them.

Maybe sometimes we want to let them, thinking that suffering in our minds is some thing that we have to do. And maybe that is our experience right now, but does it have any value? Do we need to give it value? Does it benefit anyone?

All the time we are being presented with a smorgasbord of experience, laid out right out in front of us. Free of charge. Amazing things to see and hear and smell and feel. Even in a dark room with our eyes closed.

Maybe we choose to turn away from the opportunity. But there is only today in which to experience it. More than that. Only Now.

Why would we miss the opportunity?