The power of me...now.

Recently I had a conversation with someone I was sat next to at a works do.

For some inexplicable reason we got onto the subject of past, present and future, and what he told me resounds with me today.

Drinking copious amounts of tea with B this afternoon, after facing the strenuous task of hobbit herding at McDonalds...I told her what this person had said to me.

Essentially his thoughts were that we spent too much time thinking and considering the past and the future, that we forget to just live in the now. That we don't appreciate what we have right in the moment and that we by-pass everything that is great and good now because we are too busy worrying about what was and what will be.

He then told me about a recent visit to his grandson who is five years old. As he saw him, he couldn't help but exclaim, "It is so lovely to see you, I have missed you so much. Have you missed me?"
His grandson innocently looked at him and said, "No grandpa, why would I miss you? You are here now."

This child wasn't looking at what was, or that his grandpa would be going away again but simply that he was with him now. How could he miss him? He was here in front of him.

I suppose for many of us this information is not that enlightening, but talking it through with B today it really brought it home to me how we waste time doing this. She agreed entirely and had her own example of how she has looked at her own children in that way.

When one says 'what will be, will be' it really is that ambiguous. Concentrate on the power of now, on what we can do in this very moment...achieve, live for, share...live each day not as if it could be your last, but to enjoy and realise what is happening now.

By doing this we actually experience our life as it is happening, rather than second guessing what may be around the corner. So some days may be painful, happy, sad, joyous...but to be the person that I want to be I have to experience them now, in the moment.

That is what empowerment really means to me. The power of me or you...right now.