This wisdom offered to me years ago just keeps spiraling
and moving in my life. In the past twenty-four hours I’ve had five wholly
unexpected occasions to directly and indirectly engage this idea.
In decision-making,
“just for now” means that we do our best in the moment given to us to decide
how to proceed. We bear in mind that later our circumstances might change.
We commit to a period of time – an hour, a day, a week – to stick with our
decision. This is especially difficult when we’re dealing with a decision that
involves an emotionally-laden situation. But we rely on our own good compassionate hearts. And then we can let go all the “what ifs”
that might arise in our mind. Just for now allows us to trust ourselves.
In ritual-making,
“just for now” honors the fluidity and sacred spontaneity of the divine and how
that might be at work in our lives. We choose some ways in which we will
practice ritual (meditating for fifteen minutes every morning just upon waking,
for example). And we do so until something shifts (we might meditate at a
different time of day once in a while, or extend the amount of time, or move to
an outdoor location for our morning meditation ritual). This gives us a path to
follow but also acknowledges that our journey might look different later. Just for now allows us to engage those practices that are best for our immediate growth.
In stressful,
letting go times, we can apply “just for now” by actually allowing the
challenging emotions to hang out with us for a while…in the small or medium
sized dose we can handle. “Just for now I can feel this.” We can use the jar or
box we’ve got handy (see Thursday’s entry in the March 30, 2012 post: LettingGo: A Few Journal Entries Dancing Around the Idea.) to let go of the
primary negative charge of the stress-inducement. Just for now I’ll feel this
thing. Just for now I’ll release it into the jar. Just for now allows us to honor our journey as emotional beings.
During those periods in which we grieve the loss of a loved one, we can allow “just for now” to
carry us through the entire process, with all its colors and permutations. In
one moment, we feel profound sadness; in another, we giggle remembering
something about our loved one. The next moment we might be angry at his
passing, or then feel relief that he suffers no more. The “just for now-ness” of the
grieving process reminds us that all we need to be is who we truly are in any
moment. Just for now allows us to be changeable in times of upheaval.
As we transition
into a new project – especially one we haven’t expected but which we trust and
allow to unfold – (like memoir-writing that suddenly begins to write itself on
our page), “just for now” is a guide. We take things one step at a time. We
hold expectations loosely. We do just what we now we need to do right now (the
task at hand) and rest in the faith that next time we move into the project we
will have just the next piece we need. Just for now allows us to go with the flow of creativity.
The more we allow spontaneity and unfixedness, the more we
embrace our natures as humans sharing a planet with all manner of other living
beings. That pair of finches just swooped onto the clothesline and then dashed
off to the next yard. “Just for now” affords me the opportunity to stare at
them while they’re present in my viewscape as well as to smile and send them
off with a blessing when their wings take them elsewhere. These are all
versions of the same thing. Just for now
reminds us that things are not absolute or fixed. Embracing this mantra clears
our hearts of the debris that such rigidity of mandate or structure tries to
impose.
May you find peace as you remember that things are
continually in flux, so evident now in this season of springtime.
All blog images created and/or photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted.
