here and now

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.  ~Hal Borland


Recently I was asked what my vision is for the new year and I got overwhelmed.  How can I figure out what I want from this year?  It's hard enough to know how to find peace with each day at a time.  It's not that I won't have goals, or that I don't have things I want to change; it's that I want to tackle them when I come to them, when it's the right time.  For some of them that time is now; others will begin to shine at the proper moment.


So I won't allow myself to be afraid of the future, ever.  One of my friends from Highland always says, "There is one time, and it is now.  There is one place, and it is here."  Although it was usually quoted to impatient campers who wanted to know what was next on the schedule, I think it applies to life, too.  True contentment comes from finding a sense of peace in every situation, no matter the circumstances.  I will still try to change my circumstances, because I believe deeply in a better world, but I will also allow myself to sink into the joy that is here and now.


For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot