What Happened To Now?

            Now. It’s a tiny word, or an elusive notion, that holds so many possibilities. Why can’t we stay here, in the now?

Now. It is propped up by the past and teeters on the future. Who can balance there? Few of us can for very long. Instead, we survey the past, our emotions augmenting countless recollections. What if, we imagine, and tumble backward. A quagmire of ancient history holds us hostage, and now disappears in an instant.

Conversely how many times have we put now behind us in order to look to the future? Our plans, anticipations, and intentions take hold as we envisage our tomorrows. With emotions in high gear, we look ahead. We are excited or eager, anxious or afraid. No matter our feelings, how often do we find ourselves drawn away from now into unfamiliar territory? Why is that? Why is now so difficult to capture?

Life is a series of now after now after now, I suppose, but to be able to stop and savor one moment in time, to forget the past and ignore the future, for just a second seems a positive exercise. Be here now. Stop and smell the roses. Free your mind. You have arrived. Take it one step at a time. So many sayings fit, I imagine, but after struggling to write this blog, I found two quotations (below) that I like the best. They made me stop, and they made me think, about how to deal with the concept of now.