Slowly but surely, you're beginning to realize that the past will not have a permanent effect on your life. Even though you know more about the days behind you than you know about the days before you, this remains true: this present moment is about something so much more than comparing the present to the future. This present moment is a space to practice hope, no matter the unknowns that lie before you. For this moment right here will never be here again. Soon, this will become a past moment. Soon, this will become a day behind you.
So before it becomes another past moment, how can you allow this moment to be different than the others? What can you do today, in this very hour, that you haven't done in a very long time, or you've never done before? Because now that you know that your past did not define you, this present moment doesn't have to be about keeping up with a storyline of yesterday. You are allowed to change things up. You do not have to be the same person that you were a year ago, a month ago, or even an hour ago. And if someone else says, "hmm, you seem a little different these days or oh, you're changing course again," you are allowed to say yes, I am, and nothing else. You do not have to explain yourself. You are allowed to change course. You are free to go off-script. And you are free to be excited about it. You are allowed to declare with confidence:
“No, I am not who I was yesterday. And I have this moment right now to try something in a new way. No, I do not know how tomorrow will go, but I am at home in grace. Grace that frees me to be who I was meant to be right here in the present moment. Not attached to who I was yesterday."
Now there will be thoughts and maybe even conversations that continue to come up about yesterday. And at the very same moment, you are free to ask, "what does courage look like today? Not "what do I think courage will look like tomorrow?" But "what does courage look like today? What does joy look like right now, in this very hour? What would it look like to change my mind about something, right here, right now?"
You are allowed to ask new questions today.
You are allowed to lean into the present moment in an all-new way.
Today is brand new and so are you.
More tomorrow...
Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols
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