The Starting Point

A homespun saying I use to help those (and myself) who’ve made a mess of things in their lives, is “Begin from where you’re at.” Waiting for an opportune time is to wait in vain. The best way to take care of any type of bad situation is by starting where you’re at. Wherever “here” is, that’s where you start.

Those who refuse to start from where they are, spend their lives at the starting gate and never go anywhere in life’s race. Someone has said, “Don’t be paralyzed by the past, stay riveted on the present moment.” Yesterday is history; whether glorious or gory, it is the Sacred Now that is the secret to life.

Contrary to what most of us have been taught, we cannot go back and make a brand-new start. But we can start from now and make a brand-new ending. It is never too late to be what you might have been. You may not be that person as long as you wished, but you can die being that person with whatever time you have left.  

St Francis of Assisi once said, “Start by doing what is necessary. Then do what is possible. Suddenly, you are doing the impossible.”

Richard D. Sandlin