Mindfulness is brilliant in its essence—
always here, always now.
But I would be lying
if I said I lived there
all the time.
My mind keeps me alert, attentive
to details I would otherwise miss
in the complexity of daily life.
Yet it can mislead,
moving too quickly
when important choices are required.
So when decisions arise,
I return to mindfulness
to discover clarity and space.
Still, the mind wanders—
drifting forward and back,
like fingers on a guitar’s neck:
often melodic,
sometimes dissonant.
That dissonance most often appears
when I look backward.
Memory is an unreliable witness.
My siblings’ recollections of childhood
differ from my own,
just as my children’s memories of me
will differ from mine.
To remember how we felt at five
is like stuffing a king-sized quilt
into a mailbox.
We have grown too much
to make it fit.
And so I step away
from the past
with relative ease.
The future is the opposite.
Anything is possible.
With optimism, imagination
creates worlds.
When I travel forward,
it is to envision peace—
equality among all beings,
a world like the Hawai‘i I call home,
where Aloha is practiced
and the common good
is shared.
Between past and future,
one feels expansive;
the other, fragmented,
often unsettling.
Measuring inner progress
from then to now
keeps me from slipping backward
into confusion and fog.
In the end,
I return to the Now—
the only place
where choice is possible,
and growth occurs.
Stormy horizon ~ bj 2026
For me, the past, the present, and the future exist simultaneously in the now, for only in our thoughts can we access the past or imagine the future. It’s both easy and difficult to believe that everyone lives in their own reality – ours almost always seems so right and sensible, doesn’t it? Thanks for opening doors and windows into yours – we often seem to be watching the same movie. 🙂
Haha, I’m glad. 😉
And thanks for your take on the now.
How on earth could I disagree?
🙏💕
I remember our long talks at college, and how wonderful it was to find somebody who understood what I was talking about. So glad we’re back in touch and still on the same wavelength!
Oh my God, and with that handle, how am I going to know who you are?! give me initials anyway – make it a game! I miss VC. What a totally unique experience! ♥️
👍🏼
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