Doing The Next Right Thing

Purposefully

Colorful trees at the Treehouse

Be prepared is the scouts motto. It helps us turn challenging situations into realizations of possibilities imagined.

Two of the many ways to fish the Sacramento river

Some preparations are fairly easy. Pay bills, get groceries, stay clean and healthy and there is a good chance you are basically prepared to live for at least another month.

But sometimes there are surprise challenges for which one might not be fully prepared.

Drift boat fly fishing

Knowing that we might not be prepared for unexpected situations, is a form of preparedness, too. When I think about past incidents that caught me by surprise, and those times that seemed to find their own solutions, I think it was because I happened to be enjoying the limitless possibilities of living in the now.

14,179 ft Mount Shasta with fresh snow

The difficult adjustments seem to have occurred when I was trying to hold onto the past, or live in a future that wasn’t yet revealed. Now is when we live our lives. The past is more like a series of remembered ‘nows’ that have already been used, and the future seems to be comprised of imagined ‘nows’ that may or may not actually happen.

Camera friendly turkey vulture

I have found that I can prepare for a desired future while knowing that it may not turn out as expected, and be comfortable with that knowledge.

There was a time in my life when I lived my nows with a sense of urgency that made life uncomfortable and unfocused. Many activities were riddled with an inflated sense of importance in order to fit an imagined future that I did not end up inhabiting.

6,175 ft. Shasta Bally bakes in the October sun

I am much happier living in the now with a sense of purpose. I find joy in serving others in ways that bring happiness and healthiness. It is sharing through music, art, science, and philosophy that floats my boat in the currents of now. I am fortunate to have been given these gifts that enrich my contribution to life as I live it.

Rose with singularly intoxicating nectar

It is good to see some honey bees enjoying the Treehouse roses, again.

There are certain roses on some of these bushes that will produce a more potent nectar than any others on the same bush. The bees fall all over themselves to drink it. They fly off to sniff and taste the other roses, but soon they return to ‘the one’.

I have seen as many as 4 or 5 bees all rapturously rolling around inside one of these pollen and nectar hotties, oblivious to the presence of other participants.

Beautiful, but no bees for now

Today’s Video;

How Are You Now?