Duke Ellington was once asked what his favourite composition was. His immediate reply: “the next one”.
This is a powerful attitude.
A great reminder that you can choose to see the world in a way that’s fluid and relative. That you have amazing power to shape your attitude so that it points you in the most generative direction possible.
If you’re not excited about what’s next for you, then look to change that. Don’t accept that things are not exciting — you have the ability and the agency to switch things up so that the future is exciting.
Duke’s insight also gently guides you away from dwelling on the past. Whether that means letting go of bad memories… Or moving on from halcyon days that you feel you can never recapture.
Hoping that someday you’ll be able to rest on your laurels and do nothing but dwell on past glories is not a recipe for a switched-on, fully alive life.
Make sure you’re strapped in for a never-ending journey instead. One where you get excited about what’s coming up. Not miles in the future — but what you’re going to work on next.
Because ‘next’ immediately becomes ‘now’ as long as you stay in motion. ‘Next’ is the one place where you and the future meet.
This doesn’t stop you from bathing in the glow of past memories. But it means that they’re merely one part of your exciting and alive ongoing life. That you’re actively engaged in the present moment.
The past is known. There’s no mystery there.
Next is where possibility lies. Where uncertainty lies.
It’s where you get the excitement of discovering the unknown every day.
Where you get to dance with the new. And, in dancing, renew yourself.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if, when asked what the happiest point in your life was, you could reply each time like the Dalai Lama once did (with a twinkle in his eye and an impish grin): “I think… Right now.”