Every now and then you hear something that processes as common sense.

Of course who I am today is who I am. What kind of statement is that? My immediate reaction is judgment of the speaker. Stop trying to be profound.

I have learned that I have an aversion to the present moment. It’s human nature, so I guess it isn’t I who has the aversion. But whatever, you get it.

With this aversion to observing, understanding, and living in any form of present moment I lose sight of who I am in the most literal sense. We all have ideas of who we are conceptually. We are continually nurturing this abstract, literary version of who we are. We have a fairly strong idea of how we would write our own characters in a screenplay.

We all care very deeply about how we are perceived and the legacy we leave behind. Nobody ever wanted to be forgotten or remembered poorly. We want to be remembered. It feels good to believe people will be crying at our funeral.

Because of this we spend a lot more time crafting an idea of ourselves than we do acting out the reality of our character.

The past is gone, the future is imaginary. It won’t work to believe we can let today slide because we did a good job most of the time. That’s not really how this works.

The fact is that right now is literally all there is. Everything we had we no longer have. Things we plan to have are nothing more than whispers and fantasy. Those things aren’t real. No matter how badly we have become attached to them.

I don’t want to make a grand spiritual statement. This is a statement of fact. Quite literally this very moment is all there is.

The things you do right now. The way you act today. That is who you are.

The things you did don’t exist anymore. They are gone. The things you will do aren’t real. Whispers. The person you were and the person you plan to be don’t mean shit.

You are exactly who you are in this exact moment. If you wan’t to be different then you cannot hope for difference to come.

If you are an asshole in this moment then you are an asshole. Period. You aren’t a good guy with asshole tendencies. In this moment you are an asshole.

If you speak gently then you are gentle.

If you give generously then you are generous.

If you act aggressively then you are aggressive.

You are exactly what you are and exactly what you do right now.

Every moment is a brand new chance. A chance to improve or a chance to perpetuate the person you don’t want to be.

What would you do right now if you were exactly the person you fantasize being?

Do that thing. Because that is who you are.