“Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past.”

James Joyce wrote that and it speaks to me today.

I have a tendency to live in other places like Camelot or The Barrens.  Always looking backwards or forwards.  Reveling in what was.  Worried what will be.  Forgetting that I am the driver on this trip and my steering makes a huge difference.

What was is seldom as good or bad as I recall in any given moment. 

Whether I believe it, or not .. .  Whether I like it, or not . . . Whether I want it, or need it, or despise it . . .  Life is lived one footfall at a time.

Where I've been leads to now which is the way to the future.  My future.  My Way, because my perspective is the set of blinders that define me.  When I pick up my foot, or hand, or thoughts and set them down in another place-- it matters where that place is.

I learn from the past, but I shouldn't necessarily live for the future.  All of those clichés are just thoughts someone else had in good or bad moments.  My own philosophy needs to incorporate my own strengths and skills.

When it comes to other people, the best I can probably do is set a good example, show them how it works for me.  That is one way I learn, paying attention to people I admire or respect and seeing what they do, or don't do.

The best I have to give is a map for living that shows what works for me and what doesn't.  In the end everyone has to walk through the wilderness alone. 

A moment seems too short when it's full of joy and too long when it is painful, but it's all there is . . .