Now and Again: Part 2

Now Strikes Back

So you've decided now's the time. You've brushed the carrot-cake oreos off your sweatpants, you dragged yourself off the couch; you've bought the nice, new notebook or you've signed up for that class or you've pulled those dust bunnies out from underneath the dresser. You've practically sent invitations to announce, "Yes, NOW! I'm here! I'm doing it! It's happening!" With gusto, you swing open the door to 'now' and...and....
Nothing. Not one peep out of 'now'. "Did I get this wrong?" you think to yourself. 'Now's been reaching out to me again and again, and now here I finally am and nothing?? Now 'now' wants nothing to do with me?? Like the person that had been texting you longingly and when you decide, ok, you know what, I'll give them a chance- nothing, just a bunch of cyber dust bunnies blowing across your screen.

The funny thing about the very nature of 'now' is that it holds all possibilities, including the possibility that 'now' really might not be the right time. Or at least not in the way we imagine it to be. Part of our problem as human beings with rich imaginations is that we can imagine what will happen not only now, but all that could happen then- Now that I've bought the nice, new notebook, then I will write every day and become a best-selling author and make lots of money and...; Now that I've signed up for that class, then I'll really start living my purpose and make lots of money and...; Now that I've cleaned up those dust bunnies, then I'm going to get my whole life organized and start making lots of money and...
Not only have we opened the door to now, we've covered it all up with how it needs to be, eliminating all the ways and possibilities of what it could be. (The equivalent of not just texting that person back with 'Hey...' but texting them, 'Hey, so what if we move in together? Would you mind moving in with me? Of course I could move in with you but then my cat would have separation issues from my bedroom window- she really likes the afternoon sunlight there, but...)

Oftentimes it's all the 'then ands...' that actually make us do anything in the first place; it awakens possibility; it sparks action. Where we get caught, however, is that when we do finally make our move 'now', we're actually not acting in regards to now at all, we're acting in regards to the 'then'. We do what we do now so we can enjoy now more then. Weird, right? And, of course, 'now' is like, mmhmm, I see what's going on. Later...
'Now' wants you to participate in, well 'now', not then. It wants to draw you in, lovingly, to all it can offer you, now, more deeply, more fully, with all its detail, its nuance, its intimacy, its contribution, its possibility- of all that can happen NOW, not then.

Because what can happen.... when we can fully meet the moment now, as it is...

Stay tuned for 'Now and Again': Part 3...