Be here now

“Be Here Now: Music Video by Mason Jennings”:http://www.masonjennings.com/video/MasonJennings_BeHereNow_VidFull_300.asx

Choices are often the enemy of life. Any choice you make will eventually come back to bite you in the arse. The best you can do is to make a commitment to be involved in the present. Sure there is tomorrow but who knows what that will bring. If anything can be said it is that to think about what might have been, what could have happened, what might have been will drive you crazy. Ultimately cause you to run headlong into disaster.

Chris Duff wrote in _On Celtic Tides_ about the 5 yard circle around his boat. When the water of the North Atlantic got lumpy and textured, when the wind started to howl, all he could do was focus on a five yard circle around the kayak.

This is often how I feel surfing too. You have to be completely involved in the moment or you will quickly find yourself in trouble. Focusing on the texture of the water, the direction of waves, the speed of the wind. You also have to be flexible. If you get swallowed by a giant wall of water, don’t automatically assume all is lost. Hold on. Brace and see what happens. More often than not you will surface with the paddle in your hand ready to take another great ride.

The sentiment, if not overly sentimental song from Mason Jennings speaks to my state of mind this Thanksgiving season. Be involved in the moment. It won’t come again.