Present Tense

“There’s no other time but the present. Anything else is a waste of time.”

John Lennon, Melody Maker, October 1971

“Life is what happens to you, While you’re busy making other plans.”

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), 1980

Matching Yoko’s words from yesterday with John’s as they are one of the greatest of love stories and a fascinating creative partnership. Post-Beatles in particular John Lennon clearly made concerted efforts to understand himself better and exorcise his demons. Learning to live largely in the present would have been part of this – easy to say, really hard to actually do.

There’s a yin yoga class I like to do on Sunday evenings in Brighton. What always strikes me about that chilled hour is what an immense struggle I find it to keep my mind present in that room.

Reflecting on the past has its place. Envisioning the future too. But living the moment is the key and the place where most satisfaction is to be found.

Combatting Corona Quotes

“It’s in your hands how you look at it. I still have hopes and dreams. I don’t know when we will get back to normal and I don’t really care because I’m living right now. I’m making the most of it. I’m going to do my best to have a better future and an even better day tomorrow.”

Nadia Nadim, footballer, Paris Saint-Germain (fled Afghanistan aged 12)

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning