May’s Theme is Now.

These days, the “nows” hurry past us, shoved aside by the “next” — the urgent to-do’s, the latest breaking news. Constantly anticipating and staging for our future decimates our experience of the present. Our “now” vanishes, like water flowing through our fingertips.

We cannot keep time from spilling out of our hands and into the soft earth below. It is not our task to master the present, but to savor it. To pause. Go still. Feel the air on the back of our necks, sit in both discomfort and pleasure, and marvel in the radiance of the present moment. So that we may, in the poet William Blake’s words, “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” For all we ever have is now.

Our Buffalo chapter chose this month’s exploration of Now, Mizin Shin illustrated the theme, and our global partner Mailchimp is presenting the theme.