Being Here Now

By Maryanna Gabriel

"Start over, my darling,
Be brave enough to find the life you want,
and courage enough to chase it,
....the way you were always meant to be.-Madalyn Beck 

Ram Dass has just died. He impacted many of us.

"If you think you are enlightened, try spending a week with your family" ...one of the many things Ram Dass said. Ha, ha. I hope that everybody has emerged intact from the time of lights and celebration. Here we are in 2020 and I am trying to "Be here now." Letting go of the past is healthy, however, parts of me return to it over and over. Maybe that means I am not very enlightened. 

I remember when I was handed a copy of the essay, "Be Here Now." It was in high school. It was presented as a reaction to the fifties, where the generation we sprang from were working towards retirement. Those were such innocent times and we were so sure of ourselves that we would create a better future. Information was private, there seemed to be a sense of predictability and abundance. We were full of ideals.

I find myself still hanging onto these ideals with as much strength as I can

muster, amid a swirling confusion of outer world events, trying to trust that there are reasons for what is unfolding, puzzled that the era I grew up in, did not bid farewell to what is resurfacing, selfishness, indulgence, and hatred. It seems a theme that is replayed over and over within families and in the world without.

The year 2020 has a nice ring to it. One can only be in charge of one's self, and not the behaviour others, after all.  I pull in calm and peace. The sky is blue today and without hope, there is no heaven. Here we are, being, in the now. Happy New Year! And so it is.