Now

From Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist: “[P]eople fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

It occurred to me this morning after reading this that this is the time of year when the focus is on two things – the past and the future.  Anything I read has a “year in review” for 2016, whether it be greatest sports moments, significant world events, a list of people who passed away this year, the best books or movies of 2016 ….  And then there are the resolutions about what we are going to do next year, that looking to the future.  Amongst all that looking backward and forward it becomes easy to lose track of the now.  I know much about that — I have a well-honed skill of looking backwards with regret and looking forward with anxiety, all the while forgetting the now.  I suspect it is a common malady, but I am too busy looking at my own past and future to confirm that.

All that as a set up to the thought that perhaps this time of year is the time to increase my efforts to focus on today, and not on yesterday’s events and regrets, not on tomorrow’s possibilities and promise.  Heck, maybe the time to do that is every day.