We live in the here and now. This is where life is.

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

My traveling companion and I have been having some really good conversations, when I mean good, I mean deep and insightful. I have never been that "so what do you think about the weather" kind of guy. This can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing. When I am with a person that likes to talk about deep meaningful and insightful things we have a great conversation, a conversation that continues to build and form even after it is over. When I am with a "so what do you think about the weather" person, I tend to aggravate them. 

The person (I will name him Bill, just to give the story more flavor) will say, "So Roger, what do you think about the weather?"

I will say, "Oh, I think it is quite nice, don't you?"

Bill will often reply, "Yes, I love a beautiful day, and aren't the clouds nice?"

This is usually where things derail.

I will say something to the effect of, "Yes, I really like clouds. Tell me do you like clouds, and which cloud is your favorite? I really don't have a favorite:

There are times when a nice Cirrus Cloud really makes me smile, and there are times when an Altocumulus cloud does the trick, Cumulus clouds are like a pillow and those stratocumulus clouds are amazing. 

Did you know, there are three different kinds of Cirrus clouds?

There are Cirrocumulus, they are high clouds with a puffy, patchy appearance and small spaces between the clouds. they often form wavy patterns. 

There are Cirrostratus clouds, these are the high clouds that are light gray, or white, they are thin though, and you can see the Sun or moon through them. They usually cover most of the sky.

There are Altocumulus clouds, these are the middle clouds that have a puffy patchy appearance with spaces in between, they look like cotton balls. 

There are Alto......Bill, where did you go?"

I wonder where Bill went!

That is what usually happens to my "So what do you think about the weather?" conversations.

When I told this to my traveling companion, she said, "Roger, I do love you, but you really can be a jerk sometimes!" 

I just smiled, and gave her that ya, I know look; because it was true. 

We are still in the forest.

The path isn't scary, it is quite pretty. It curved up ahead and never let us look too far ahead. I realize now it was training me to not be so "far future" focused. I have gotten better at being in the here and now. It is good to look a bit into the future, but not too far. It is much better to be present in the here and now. That is where we are living. 

We no longer live in the past, and we don't live in the future.  

We live in the here and now. This is where life is. 

We had stumbled into an open spot, and I was really quite proud of myself. While it was possible to look way ahead on the path, I didn't. I noticed the openness of the area and the ability to look way ahead. I took a quick glance but didn't stay there. I averted my gaze to a point in the near future and looked at that. All the while maintaining my present self. 

That was a good moment.

If I can say anything to you at all it is this, "Don't focus on far future things, it is a mirage. Definitely, don't focus on the past, it is dead and gone. Live in the here and now, this is where life is." 

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger