Our Future Lies in the Here and Now.

How are the New Years Resolutions coming? If you are like me resolutions are hard to make let alone keep. Still there is some value in making resolutions and goal setting.

Self-improvement requires perspective and direction. This is undoubtedly true. But self improvement also requires change. The most critical and essential thing about the process of self-improvement and success is that there exists, in each of us, the power to change and, equally as important, the power to remain the same.

Like fire and water, these two opposites, constancy and change, are powerful forces in our lives. We often take them for granted, however. Many things change in our lives. Seasons change, laws change, cities change, markets change, and people change. Sometimes change is good, sometimes change is not always for the better. With all that changes in our lives, there are still many things which remain constant and stay the same. Holidays seem to always come on schedule, as do mornings, nights, as well as Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays etc.; and January is always followed by February.

The trick is simply this: knowing what to change and what to leave the same. It is easy to just say change the bad and leave the good, but the process is so subjective. Even the process of de-junking a home is hard for some people because people have a hard time letting go of junk (one man’s junk is another man’s treasure).

Some people experience the equivalent of a midlife crisis when they reach a certain age and things have appeared to go downhill in their lives. They feel they still haven’t accomplished all that they wanted to. By the time many people reach 40 or 50, they realize they have collected a lot of mental & emotional junk, picked up bad habits, let talents, skills & even figures slide, just because a sheer number of years have passed. As the years add up, so does the weight, the idiosyncrasies, bad attitudes, false notions & traditions, beliefs, and even sins.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Some people successfully live a little better each day. Look at the Prophets and Apostles for example. The whole point is we must realize that we can rise above letting years slip by without progress. We can be extraordinary even in the ordinary ways we do things. And the secret is not in the future, it is in the NOW. For the future is really made in the present.

I think these two poems I wrote may say it best:

Someday Isle

I charted a ship to Someday Isle
and dreamed of a glorious paradise sun.

I set my sails high and manned the wheel
I hoped for a fast wind and a strong run.

I’d heard of the treasures on Someday Isle
and dreamed of great riches and fame

So I sold all I had for my boat and supplies
but I knew all my wealth I’d regain.

The voyage was rugged, the waves were quite rough
and at times I thought all was lost

But I held on to that wheel and forged on ahead
“I’ll make it, regardless the cost”

One day I spotted dry land close ahead,
So I set my sails high once more.

I didn’t steer clear, enough of the reef
and I crashed far from the shore.

I’m stranded here now on Someday Isle
with no hope of rescue in sight.

But someday, I’ll make it back home to the shore
and tell of my terrible plight.

Life is a voyage of jewels and success
the foolish sailor will say.

But I realize the real jewel now
is the time that I spend with today.



Beyond Tomorrow’s Horizon

Beyond tomorrow’s horizon
lie the dreams
dreamt today.
Passing through time
is a lifetime adventure.
Each new dawn
brings the chance
for a brighter day.

Beyond tomorrow’s horizon
the future speaks:
“New generations,
mold your dreams
like clay.
For when
the clay has hardened
tomorrow
becomes
today.