The approach of the New Year serves as a reminder of our impermanence. Another year around the sun marked by a ball dropping in New York and thousands of New Year’s kisses shared between people who all inhabit this little planet. The passage of time can be scary and beautiful all at once. It can be hard to come to terms with a changing face and figure in the mirror and even harder to face the stages of life you have left behind.
The new year comes on a wave of nostalgia, and those bittersweet memories can make one’s stomach reel. It can be hard to grasp the movement of time, and its speed can give us a sense of motion sickness. It seems we are always wishing away time or wishing we had more of it. This new year, I challenge all of us to stay present. Enjoy the moment you have now, as it is one you will never get again.
The power of “now” is that it is isolated and unique. This moment you have is ever abundant and offers to you the option to take a tangible action or simply to bask in a moment of stillness. The past and future are uncontrollable and inaccessible in the now. I challenge you to stay focused on the present moment, and be guided by what feels good for you right now, rather than being clouded by the past or future.
This new year will sit squarely between all of the wonderful moments you have had on earth, and all of the moments that are yet to come. Appreciate the prospects of new memories and when you think of the memories you hold now, know that there is no good to come from mourning your past self. You are a great collage of moments that accumulate to make you who you are. Without change and without past selves learning to grow, there would be no you. So instead of mourning, begin to cherish all of the moments that have brought you to the now and soak it in. Take in every little glimpse of this moment that is solely yours. No one sees with your same eyes and no one thinks with your same mind, so treasure this moment that is distinctive to your experience, and do what you will to make it special.