A question hangs over practically everything we do in daily life; What we do for work, where we live, who we keep as friends, and who we choose to build our lives with. It's simplicity and resistance to our attempts at discovery is profound: How can we judge our satisfaction with our lives? Is it by looking back on our past accomplishments, deeds done or not done? Or is it by looking forward, and basking in the glow of a soon-to-be bright future? If these are the modes of satisfaction, then they are out of our control, because a glorious past or a promising future are not with us when we ask ourselves, "am I getting what I want out of life?". No, that elusive answer can only be rendered now. The greatnesses done or soon-to-be, far from our reach, cannot be of help to us in answering.

The reason for this is deceptivey trite. There is only ever the now that you are in. Each day is a flow of now, one into the next like a roll of film. When do you arrive in the future, or depart the past? Your conceptions of the past or the future are respectively your memories and imagination, which you play and replay, in the now. You only tell yourself you are re-living the past or the future as you look beyond the now before you.

Normally we only recognize a perceptible change from past to future, like flipping on a light, when our old understanding of ourselves is replaced by a newer one - yet even this can only ever happen "now". Whether you give it your total attention or not, the present keeps unfolding until it stops. For everyone, it will one day stop. But that will be in the now, not far in the distant future "away" from now.

The end stares us in the face as an inextricable part of the now, if only we have the resolve to stare back.

Every action is like a hand in the stream - momentary in sensation, but leaves a lasting trace. You can't step out of the flow, and you can't touch it without leaving a mark of some kind, even by standing still. The task is to live in the humility that each moment matters, not by grasping or indulging, but by being alive to it.

When striving for something significant, changing yourself or the world around you, you are forced into action. Action requires decision, conscious or unconscious. Each moment does not matter equally. Most decisions before you are just noise; only a few actually shape or redirect the stream. There is often a huge amount of noise. It can be difficult to take it all in. Being alive to all your decisions renders tremendous rewards. The price is quite plain: Cultivate peace in the noise - be deliberate, patient, yet willing to be swift and decisive when something truly matters.

This demands calm in your inevitable uncertainty, and the self-control to hold back when action would only cloud the waters or confuse your intent. And when the rare, crucial moment arrives, you must act decisively, because the stream will go on; it cannot wait. The risk is to mistake your own anxiety, fear, or ego for a critical moment, and disturb the flow for your own comfort, rather than standing fast to what is truly important.

And how can you know what is truly important? Only you can answer this. "What is important" is not a problem of intelligence, or cleverness, or anything else by which others can judge you. It is the simplest form of what you want for yourself. On this, there is no person capable of answering other than you. And your answer may change as the now flows on. There is no other way to discover yourself. Enjoy it.