William Wordsworth wrote, “Life is divided into three terms—that which was, which is, and which will be.” Anything can be tolerated in the present moment. Rarely, however, are moments perceived without the overshadowing of the past.
What I mean is, say someone is stuck in traffic. No big deal as an isolated occurrence, just a few minutes more and traffic ought to move. What typically happens though is that frustration is compounded by remembrances of past incidents of waiting. Of greater concern is our anxiety of what may happen in the future, such as, you might be late, again.
We can examine the truth of Wordsworth’s words according to how our bodies work.
Which was: We can not take in breath from the past. Nor can we see what has gone by. The past, glorious or infamous, is spent. We cannot actually hear from the past; we can repeat recordings, but when we hear, we hear in the present. This is true of what we see also.
Which is: The God-given capacity to breathe is for this very moment. We do not have to prompt ourselves to breathe, we just breathe…until we don’t. Hearing and seeing are for now.
Which will be: We cannot breathe ahead of time nor save up breath for later. I think if we could we would save some breaths for the last moments, likely not so much for ourselves, but for the ones who might have something more that they might want to say to us or hope to hear from us. We cannot see into the future either. What we imagine might be is experienced now, not then.
I agree with Wordsworth and with this awareness, hope that I with you too, in 2018, will embrace the sweetness of hearing and seeing the present.
“To begin, begin.” – William Wordsworth
