This is the only time and place I can ever exist.

And yet why is it so challenging to be everywhere else BUT here and now!? Reminiscing about the past. Thinking about things I could’ve done differently. Planning for the future. Trying to predict what will happen and acting accordingly.

Even when my mind is elsewhere, my spirit and heart are in the here and now. I can’t NOT be here, no matter how hard I try. So instead of fighting it, for the rest of this month, I am going to put great effort and energy into being present. I lost touch with the meditation practice I started in November 2017, and I’d like to get it back.

The above art is a quote I drew with inkbox.com’s freehand tattoo ink. It lasts about 2 weeks. I’ve toyed with the idea of a tattoo, but never could decide on a quote or image that I think I’d like enough to be on me for the rest of my life. My closest friends can tell you that I’m a big fan of Chronicle Books’ One Line A Day journals; I’m currently in my 6th year of this practice. I put so much effort into documenting everything with pictures and journals, as if I am afraid that I won’t remember things, or that I won’t have any memento to look back upon if I don’t accurately journal on it right after things happen. The impermanence of these tattoos helps me remember that life is dynamic and fleeting. Things don’t have to last forever for them to be meaningful.

My favorite clothes will eventually wear down, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t wear them in an attempt to preserve them. My sticker collection is collecting dust; I should use and enjoy them while the adhesive still works, rather than waiting for the perfect time to have fun with them.

Life is beautiful BECAUSE it is fleeting. Don’t wait until things are perfect, and don’t try to make moments last forever. Maybe the secret is to be IN the moment while it is happening, instead of trying to remember all the little moments that I want to jot down in my journal later. I will never get these moments back. So be here now WHILE life itself is actively happening.