15/09/2026
I've been binge-watching Grantchester this week while I've been ill.
For anyone who doesn't know it, it's a British drama set in a small Cambridgeshire village in the 1950's, centered around the local vicar and the people whose lives intersect with his. There's a lot of crime and drama, but underneath it, it's really a show about people - their choices, their struggles, their relationships and what makes a life worth living.
I'm up to Series 3, Episode 3.
And then this sermon came along.
It stopped me.
"Happiness is not in another place but this place. Not for another hour but this hour."
It went on to talk about how much of our lives we spend worrying about the future and dwelling on the past.
And it got me thinking about the post I had just written about the future.
Because I think there is a tension here.
We can spend so much time thinking about the life we might have one day that we forget to actually live the one we have.
But equally, I don't think being present means simply accepting whatever life happens to become.
Perhaps we need both.
To be here.
To notice.
To really see the life we are living.
And then to ask ourselves:
WHO AM I NOW?
AND KNOWING WHO I AM NOW, IS THIS THE LIFE I WANT TO KEEP CREATING?
Because this is the life we are here for.
Not yesterday.
Not tomorrow.
Now.
But now doesn't mean we have to live by default.
We can be fully present in this moment and still allow ourselves to imagine what we want our lives to look and feel like.
Maybe that is what the Pause is for.
Not to escape the present.
But to become fully conscious of it.
To look around at the life we have created and ask:
WHAT MATTERS TO ME NOW?
WHAT DO I WANT TO KEEP CREATING?
I think I am beginning to understand that these two things aren't opposites at all.
They might actually be the heart of what comes next.