[12] I acknowledged there is only “now”
The heart of the suggested steps to Peace & Acceptance is contained in these steps describing the experience of grieving widows and widowers.
Meetings focus on working through the steps, often in a repeating pattern as more learning is revealed to us on our journey. There is often no linear progression.
There is only now.
There is only this exquisite, infinitely small moment.
And as soon as I’ve finished saying the word ‘now’, the now has gone.
There is only tension and emotional discomfort in our life when we compare ‘now’, this exquisite moment of now to the past, to what’s happened or to the future and what we imagined would be.
The past is just a reconstruction of things in our mind, and that reconstruction is flawed. We may be remembering things that happened in slightly different ways. We may have forgotten things. We may have put particular highlights on things. So the past is a construction of stuff that’s happened in our mind and isn’t actually real.
… and the future hasn’t happened.
So neither the past or the future are real, when we look at this unique and exquisite moment that’s all there is.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Thinking prompts for this step
If you wish you may find it helpful to use these as prompts to guide your thinking when it’s your turn to share during any group meeting.
- Explain what ‘now’ means to you
- Can you feel the tension in your mind when you compare ‘now’ to the past or future?
- Can you feel that if you just focus on ‘now’, with no comparison to the past or future that the tension goes away?
- Can you feel the power of now ? You may like to read “The Power of Now” by Erkhart Tolley