Giving. Now.

"Most men make the error of thinking that one day it will be done. They think, 'If I can work enough, then one day I could rest.' Or, 'One day my woman will understand something and then she will stop complaining.' Or, 'I'm only doing this now so that one day I can do what I really want with my life.' The masculine error is to think that eventually things will be different in some fundamental way. They won't. It never ends. As long as life continues, the creative challenge is to tussle, play and make love with the present moment while giving your unique gift."
[David Deida, in "The Way of the Superior Man"]

This reminds me of the cliché (yet deeply true) phrase, "If not now, when?" When does sleeping ever get us to tomorrow? If today - even right in this moment - I'm not living as the fullest expression of what I am or what I want to be, then I never will. Situations and atmospheres will change, but that everlasting, constant hum of dissatisfaction and wanting will never change (as long as I'm waiting for it to). The only thing one can do - as Deida points out in this book - is to artfully transmute your wanting into giving: to give your gift - your life - fully now and not assume that you'll do it later when ____ happens.