Now

I would hate to come to the end of my life

 to find out that I have not lived....

Henry David Thoreau, Walden 

The most difficult task for me is not mastering finance or marketing or even figuring out how to beat my friend Carter on our continuous scrabble game; it's learning to master living now.  You see the business side of me taught me to analyze the past and forecast the future.  This is great for the companies I've worked for but lousy for me.  You miss out completely on what is happening now.

The camera only captures the present.  When I look through the viewfinder and compose my shot,  I am interacting with the now.  I am in the moment.  History is meaningless at that point and the future does not even come to play.  If I become distracted, I miss out 100% of what is in front of me.  The shot evaporates and I miss an opportunity to see the details of what is actually transpiring in front of me.

As I look through the viewfinder, I see that life is happening right in front of me, right now.  I take time to focus on what I see and what I feel.  It's as if through the tap of my shutter release, I absorb what is and I capture now.  It's never history and it certainly is not my future.  It's just now.

The moment is right in front of me.  I choose to capture it and process it.  At the point nothing else matters.  I tune out my historical record keeping and my what if spreadsheets.  The only thing that is relevant to me, is insuring that I see and enjoy the life that is going on in front of me.  It's not easy to do; it requires patience and time.  I didn't realize that living required taking time to just be.  I thought living was simply about doing.