The Healing Journey

July 5, 2025

The fear of the future, especially after you’ve lost someone you love, can be terrifying. What terrors does life have in store for you? How will you ever be able to deal with all the uncertainties? Why are you so unprepared? Countless questions can assault you.

And that doesn’t include agonizing about the past — what you could have done and what you should have done. However, there’s an antidote to anxiety.

For Christian mystics and people in 12-Step recovery programs, there’s a simple truth that makes all the difference in life. You have to live a day at a time. You have to live in the present moment because in the present moment you receive all the necessary graces to confront the challenges of life and to uncover its deeper spiritual meaning.

Jesus, himself, taught this lesson when he said, “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil. (Matt 6:34)”

Anxiety and fear hobble most of us when we’re grieving and even when we’re not. Living in the present moment is the best practice. You can’t live a 72-hour day, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Both feet should be firmly planted in the present moment.

Now, Mark Twain certainly wasn’t a mystic, although he offered us a lot of insights into life, and something he once said applies to all of us: “I have been through some terrible things in my life … some of which actually happened.”
©J Pisani

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