Today's Special > Tomorrow's Menu

I don’t know anyone more future-oriented than I am.

That’s not a boast. It’s just an awareness I’ve grown into and hopefully can grow out of.

It takes a surprising amount of heavy lifting for me to be here. Now. In this moment.

My mind is almost always living somewhere ahead of me. Matter of fact, I think I spent thirty minutes this week talking with ChatGPT about the year 2038.

The truth is, it’s just hard for me to be here.

One of my gurus—what those of us who are spiritual, and not necessarily religious, often call the people who helped us see— has a phrase he repeats often:

“Just this.”

Just this moment.

Just this person.

Just this challenge.

Just this awareness.

Just this snippet of beauty.

He believes that if we could truly wrap our hands around just this, it could change us.

I remember him saying that when you’re grounded enough, present enough, awake enough, even a rock sitting on the ground can convert you.

I’ve never forgotten that.

Those are the eyes I want to bring into my days more often.

So today, I want to invite you to carve out a little space and find what I would call the special of the day.

It will probably be small.

It won’t be grandiose.

It probably won’t be the words you’ve longed to hear from someone your entire life.

It probably won’t be the promotion you’ve been chasing for years.

It probably won’t be the vacation you’ve been planning for the last twelve months.

It could be a rock.

It could be wildflowers dancing in the breeze.

It could be noticing the color around your child’s eyes.

It could be a speck of black pepper that somehow perfectly finishes the bite of whatever you’re eating.

Whatever it is, don’t miss it.

The special of the day is always waiting for us.

And whatever tomorrow’s menu turns out to be, it will only ever arrive one way:

Here.

Now.

Just this.