From This Moment

“How quietly I
begin again

from this moment
looking at the
clock, I start over

So much time has
passed, and is equaled
by whatever
split-second is present

from this
moment this moment
is the first”
– Wendell Berry, Be Still In Haste

Two weeks into the New Year. About as distracting a beginning to a New Year as I can ever recall. We know where we’ve been, where we’ve come from. But what comes next? We change from moment to moment with the ticking of the clock, but what do we do with that change?

Start over. Again.

“Time does not exist. There is only a small and infinite present, and it is only in this present that our life occurs. Therefore, a person should concentrate all his spiritual force only on this present.” – Leo Tolstoy

Sometimes it feels like we’re marching on a treadmill, especially during a lockdown, but you look back and see progress despite the illusion. A pile of actions that didn’t work. A few, sifted through the remains, that did. What do we make of it? All that has passed, has passed. This moment is the one that counts. This moment is the first.

Keep trying. Again. And again.