This moment is all we have, the here and now. Maybe like me, you've heard this many times. It always made sense to me: the past is gone and the future not guaranteed. But our new reality has stripped away the abstract allure of this call to be present. It's no longer a choice. I can't be in my head thinking about all the things I must do, places I have to go and people I need to see, and so I must be here and find a way to bring meaning and engagement to my life. It feels raw and uncertain to find renewed purpose every day.
Each morning I sit with my coffee and listen to the small sounds that break the silence. I can feel the weight of the stillness as I think about the day ahead. In art school, we learned that thinking without parameters can be paralyzing. Once you introduce a constraint, for example, "Make a painting using only shades of white", creativity is unleashed. Maybe our minds crave a problem to solve.
