I can tell you what time it is, wherever you are, whenever you’re reading these words, and it will be 100% accurate every time. Ready?
The time right now, wherever you are, whenever you’re reading these words, is now.
There’s an old saying, “There’s no time like the present.” But a better way to put it might be “There’s no time but the present.”
Now is the only time we have. The past is a story we tell ourselves about what happened to us; the future is a story we tell ourselves about what might happen to us. When you spend time thinking about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow, you’re missing the only time you actually have.
That time is now.
Think about it: the reason we can’t change the past is that we can’t act in the past; it’s over and done with. Set in stone. And the reason we can’t change the future with any degree of certainty is because we can’t act in the future. We don’t even know for sure that we’ll be here in the future; life is uncertain at best.
The only time we have is now, because the only time we can act is now.
If you want to get free of smoking and stay free for good, it can be as simple as this: whenever the urge to smoke arises, just make the choice “I’m not going to smoke right now.”
You don’t need to decide that you’re never going to smoke again; that’s too hard. And it’s possible that you could smoke again in the future. But if you choose not to smoke, just for right now, whenever the urge arises, you will, paradoxically, end up never smoking again.
(If you're feeling a bit lost, it may be helpful to go back to the first post and follow along in order.)