30 Dec 23
Piano Piano
Piano piano…
I am sitting in Rome, on the balcony of a building which was built in the 1500s. In front of me is a view of the Roman Forum, parts of which date back to 753 BC - that’s Before Christ, and long before the other BC (Before Covid). In Rome one is never far from a church, there are more than nine hundred, and so in chorus I hear the chimes of the bells from the surrounding steeples welcoming in the hour, give or take a minute or two… It’s Italy, not Switzerland.
I am holding the delicate handle of my espresso. It’s small, like it’s meant to be, so I have one moment to enjoy it. I sip it in, and then it’s gone. Like so many other beautiful things in life, even more delicious because it is fleeting.
Rome is called the Eternal City, and it has a way of making one really feel it, like you are just a moment in eternity. And if that is true, and I have only this moment, what do I need to do to make it the most magical moment ever?
How often do we pour precious energy and limited time (or is it, precious time, and limited energy...?) into a past we cannot change and a future we cannot predict. We deplete ourselves lamenting what has already been or by fabricating a goal for someone else’s requirement. And while we pay the price of those resources, we lose the only thing we truly ever had control over - the here and now.
For me, in 2024, I want more of this: more being and less doing.
2024: Be here; now.