Manifesto #10 / Living in the New Now

As Yogi Berra said, “The future’s not what it used to be.”

In the New Now, we are creating history daily.

The New Now is really one long day going on forever.

In the New Now, it’s become crystal clear the personal is universal.

Whatever else it’s telling you, the New Now is saying this: It’s never too late to be guided by your heart.

Whoever you were before the New Now occurred, you’re going to always be a slightly better version of yourself if you travel through the New Now learning open-hearted lessons from nature.

In the New Now, history is watching, history is watching, history is watching.

The New Now is telling stories to the future, written on the night winds and whispered by shooting stars.

The New Now wants you to plant trees, hold hands, eat more vegetables.

The New Now lives in a log cabin in the deep dark woods, sits at a wooden table, and draws circles on a drawing pad all day long.

The New Now suggests getting a massage, standing in a field of wildflowers, being in the flow state.

In the New Now, it’s time for every government in the world to provide its citizens with a Universal Basic Income.

 The New Now is both a wake-up call, and a sleeping pill.

The New Now no longer asks how, but just knows and believes.

In the New Now, a global movement promoting equality, justice, and love has sprung up—all around the world.

The New Now suggests wandering somewhere new every day, watching black and white movies from the 1940s, painting a masterpiece on a wall in your basement.

The New Now was predicted by philanthropists, seers, scientists, and sci-fi writers. Maybe they should’ve spoken much louder and written everything in ALL CAPS.

The New Now has indeed sparked the Green Goddess flowing energy that’s encircling the planet.

The New Now is a magic TV, a roller-skating octopus, and a free ticket to a long walk.

The New Now believes you can change the world. Oh, look, you already did!

In the New Now, the Universe is more turned on, slightly brighter, with a sharpened clarity.

The New Now is about being in the moment, transforming, remembering, dreaming, planning, rebuilding, releasing, transitioning, renewing, and reinvigorating.

In the New Now, time stops and starts up again at random intervals.

The New Now suggests words, feelings, actions.

The New Now is about being a bookworm, a knowledge-seeker, an autodidact, an eBook reader, an audible book listener, a recipe reader, a physical book reader, a daily reader, a reader of signs walls notes letters blogs, a screen reader, a cereal box reader, a wide-awake reader, a late-night digital device reader, a reader of history, a compulsive reader, a daydreaming reader, a reader of Google searches, a reader of books from the past, present, and future.

The New Now is an invisible river in the sky, of free-flowing ideas, waiting to be embraced by you on your best day.

The New Now has reset the meaning of time, our connection to nature, and our journey through each day.

The New Now is sitting in a far corner of the park, leaning against a Pine tree, reading Leaves of Grass.

The New Now suggests writing a screenplay, walking from wherever you are to Canada, switching from green tea to mushroom coffee.

In the New Now, we’re all responsible for creating a new society.

We’re all deeper inside ourselves in the New Now, sometimes lost in a haze of free floating memories, or inhabiting a place within where we’re constantly discovering unexpected new thoughts and old remembrances.

The New Now asks more questions than it answers.

In the New Now, violent, murderous racism has no place.

Our ears hear differently in the New Now. Voices and music fill our minds in a more complete way.

The New Now suggests going on silent beach walks, shaving your head, listening to the heartbeat of your beloved.

The New Now is glad to meet you, and will send uplifting messages to your heart from time to time.

Here in the New Now, the spirit of the Earth is pushing up through the roots, grass, soil—and entering our being in ways not felt for centuries.

The New Now is offering you a chance or two to begin again. Take them.

The New Now is sitting on top of the roof, with an amazing summer day view of Puget Sound, reading the poetry of Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, and Langston Hughes.

Many experiences in the New Now are uplifting, hand-picked by ourselves or serendipity.

In the New Now, we may realize we’ve been brainwashed years ago, by some that meant well and others with definite ill-intent. Now, we’ve reached the exact wonder-filled moment when we can uninstall the previous brainwashing software, and install the reprogramming of our own choosing.

The New Now also includes long walks where you’ll see bunnies in the woods, mossy rocks in streams, crows involved in intense conversations.

On some days, the New Now is sprinkling luck and miracles on the sunny sidewalk, right in front of you.

The New Now suggests writing a letter to yourself, cooking up a stir fry, drawing with your eyes closed.

The New Now is sitting on a tree stump behind the barn, swaying to Bowie’s voice coming through a portable radio.

If there ever was an ideal time to build a time machine, it’s at this moment in the New Now. Maybe even a big, multi-user time machine that could fit in a hundred people at a time. Wow, you could sell tickets to that thing and there would be a line stretching all the way from Miami to Los Angeles.

The New Now suggests meditation, reading food labels, asking questions, talking on the phone, cutting your own hair, journaling, laughing, and daydreaming.

The New Now is a windstorm, a symphony, a tsunami, a realignment, an infusion of kindness.

The New Now asks you to cultivate empathy daily.

New ways of seeing and being resulting from the New Now will happen all at once, and over years and decades.

In the New Now, listen to what your inner voice tells you, and follow it.

The New Now says it’s time to make lists, take photos, jump up and down, rest, rebuild, create, dream bigger dreams, plan, imagine.

In the New Now, grasses, flowers, and weeds grow wild in city parks.

The New Now is against all lies, falsehoods, untruths, and misdirections.

The New Now wants you to add wonder and wander to your to-do list.

Wherever we go from here, we’ll carry a deeper sense of self by going further into the New Now.

In the New Now, life shouldn’t return to normal, it should become amazingly better than what was accepted as normal for far too long.

The New Now suggests cutting up magazines, finding lost socks, rearranging cupboards.

We’ve been ready for the New Now for quite some time, and we all deserve to live in a world full of more love, kindness, laughter, empathy, compassion, and peace.

In the New Now, we’ll accept and honor one another’s strengths and visions.

The New Now suggests planting gardens, dancing with glee, communicating joyfully, and feeling the new world growing within yourself.

The New Now sees clearer, asks directly, arrived when it was supposed to, is ready for what’s next, wants radical transformation to get underway.

In the New Now, taking care of yourself is often the best thing you can do. Luckily, this can be anything you want it to be.

The New Now suggests deep breaths, cooking with garlic and spices, being in the moment.

The New Now is texting you from prehistory, with the message written in all caps: GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME, ONLY MUCH SOONER!

The eBook version of The New Now Manifestos, Reinventions, & Declarations … is on sale for 99 cents, until Wednesday 2/7/2024.