Listen to Alan read “Taking Care of the Future By Taking Care of Now”
It’s been a very full week since I last wrote. I spent three days on the road traveling back to New England from Florida. There were many appointments after being away for almost two weeks. Yet through all of it, I have continued to be with last week’s article, “In Between the In Between.”
There are so many moving pieces in the world around us—some moving very fast. Yet what gets my attention is that it seems like they don’t ever settle. Nothing seems to come to resolution. Which means we as a collective don’t settle. Nor do we seem to know where we are going. There’s no sense of a collective destination—a place or an outcome we’re all trying to get to. Which makes me wonder if there will ever be a collective “arrival.”
As I write those words, I admit I don’t know what a “collective arrival” would even mean. Or if that is what, in fact, we should be striving for. Perhaps you can relate to some or all of this.
There have been many times in my life when I thought I was heading towards a particular destination or outcome—a job, a relationship, publishing my first book, or becoming known and respected in my field. Yet every time I arrived at what I thought was a destination, I soon realized that, in reality, it would only be a “stopping point.” It’s been that way my whole life. Even on this recent trip, I “arrived” at the beach or at various hotels along the way, but they were just “stopping points,” whether for a night or a week. Even arriving back home didn’t feel like a destination. I’ve lived in my current home for more than five years, and I really love it—I’m so comfortable here. Yet right now it feels more like the place I’ll be for the next few weeks before I go on to someplace else. It feels “in between.” It’s just where I am for now.
Over the last few weeks, I keep coming back to words of mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn.
We take care of the future best by taking care of the present now.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
So simple. So grounding. Dare I say, even “settling.” Not like a destination, but a point of focus. The future feels very unknown to me—I have ideas about it, but I don’t really know what is waiting for me or for us. I’ve taken steps to ensure that my future is secure—at least as much as that is possible or as much as I can understand what that means. Yet Jon Kabat-Zinn’s words remind me that taking care of my future—taking care of our future—starts with taking care of now in the biggest sense of that word.
His words remind me that the present now is exactly where I am “in between the in between.” Yet the present now is not a “destination”—it’s not an end point. It’s just where I am for now. Which helps me remember that the present now is not still or without movement—it’s in constant motion. It’s forever shifting and changing and breaking open and transforming and re-weaving and…. The present now never stops moving. Time never stops moving. Ever.
However, when I allow “time” to be in charge or to control my life, that does not serve me. I fully acknowledge that I can’t control the things that happen around me or the thought trends of the collective consciousness. Yet I can be in charge of who I choose to be in the present now. I can be intentional about what I contribute to the collective consciousness. I can choose to partner with the movement of the present now rather than fight against it.
Which does not mean just going along with whatever is happening. It means listening, sensing, and feeling into what is happening right now, and discerning what parts of that truly are serving a greater good, and what parts are not. And then within that awareness, what do I choose for myself? It’s about being willing to stay with what is unfolding and discerning how the present now is asking me to show up. And then to say Yes. Of course, I have the option of saying No. Yet in my experience, saying No to what Life is asking me for usually hasn’t worked out very well.
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s words remind me that my job is to take care of “right here, right now” in the best way I am able in the moment. To be conscious and intentional about how I show up in the present now—“in between the in between.” To be in integrity with myself and the world around me. And to remember that when I do that well, I am taking care of the future. Because the seeds of the future are planted in the present.
What would it mean for you to take care of the present now? What does that look like? What seeds of the future are you nurturing? What are you contributing to our collective future by how you live today?
