Someday is Today

‘There is only right now, there is only this ever-present present: that is all I ever directly know. Thus the timeless present is not hard to contact but impossible to avoid, and this becomes obvious when I rest as the pure and simple Witness, and watch the past and future float by in simple ever-present awareness.”

Ken Wilber, The Eye of Spirit

When I was a kid there were parts of my childhood with divorced parents that was tough and like many, I always assumed happiness could be found in another place. I spent many summers with my aunts and uncles in California so I spent lots of time imagining how happy I could be if I just lived there. After my first trip to Europe I imagined happiness could be found in Germany. In 1993 I went back and spent a summer in Germany for an internship. I had my afternoons, evenings and weekends free. I brought my bike with me to get around, but upon arrival in Offenburg I happily discovered I was at the edge of the Black Forrest. I spent hours and hours exploring the trails nearby. One day I was resting at the summit of a hill taking in a view of a beautiful village, vineyards under a canopy of sweet smelling pine trees. At that moment I had a realization that really shook me. I had been in Germany long enough to feel like I was living there. I got up, went to work, had my sweet host family to come home to, had a favorite coffee shop and all the things. The newness had worn off and I was again with me. My thoughts. My feelings. I heard myself say “wherever you are Carlo, there you are” and so are my problems, stresses, worries, and fears.

In that moment, my mindset shifted from the mindset that happiness could be found in another place to thinking it could be found in some future “someday”. So I went into planning mode on how to build a life to be happy “someday”. I was certain someday I could find my happiness. Someday I’d find peace. When I was old enough, when I had enough money, when I had the right things, when I had done the right things. When it was this year versus that year.

The story I tell in my book AfterLIFE tells about another realization I had very much like the one I had in the Black Forest of Germany. How I learned to focus my life in a way that made me happy now, not in some forever away someday that always seemed just beyond the horizon. Just out of reach. Happiness, for me, isn’t a thing, a place, a status, but rather it is a feeling of the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal. The feeling of growing, learning, and becoming in this Now. It’s not a destination, but a journey we are on until we check out. It’s not without challenges or difficulties but for me, it was a transformative shift in focus.

All this comes to mind on this first day of January. The world didn’t change because the man made imaginary calendar that we believe in marked another voyage around a ball of fire in the center of our solar system. All we have is THIS moment. This present. I’ve wasted years planning for and partially living in a future in my imagination. I’ve spent many more years in my memory reliving the past, as the present slipped away.

All we have is this now. This ever-present present. Someday is now. Put your energy into the things that give you life now in whatever way you can. Just acknowledging what you want, writing out a plan and goals that moves you toward realizing it will bring you joy NOW. (me enjoying a NOW moment in Bologna a couple years ago)

Hot, Fresh Updates:

My book release is only 10 days away now! AfterLIFE is set to release on 1/11/21 and you can preorder at all the places. Here are a few!

I’ve added a new page to my site with reviews I gathered for the book release. I’m in the process of getting professional reviews from magazines and newspapers and hopefully some influencer folks to spread the word.

Once you’ve had a chance to check it out a kind review on Amazon, Goodreads, and social media would be a huge help. Let me know if you do so I can watch for it!

Here’s the new page on my site.

Last, my podcast should be set to release on 1/7/2021. More to come!

Thank you so much for you interest and support.

Happiest of New Years to you. May you find joy in this now.

Love,

C