The Not Now: Escaping the Illusion That You’re Wasting Time
By Dr. JC Doornick "The Dragon" - Echoes of Hmmm?
The Awkward Silence That Reveals Everything
Imagine beginning a talk with no words. No opening line. No outline. No agenda. Just standing in front of a room full of people and observing. You don’t say a thing.
Within seconds, people start to fidget. A cough. A glance at a phone. A look around to see if anyone else is as confused as they are. That moment of silence is too unfamiliar, too empty to feel comfortable. Because in today’s world, silence is interpreted as a glitch. Stillness feels like stagnation. Doing nothing is almost offensive.
We are conditioned to move, to respond, to produce. And anything that looks like a pause gets labeled as wasting time. But maybe it’s not the pause that’s the problem. Perhaps the problem is our relationship with time itself.
Living in "The Not Now"
We live most of our lives in what I call The Not Now—a state of mind where we constantly focus on what’s missing, what’s next, or what needs to happen to finally feel whole. This state of mind manifests as striving, goal-setting, manifesting, planning, intention-making, and even spiritual practices designed to "call in" a better future. At first glance, it seems empowering. But underneath it, there’s often a hidden belief: Now is not enough.
Fulfillment, then, becomes a dangling carrot—always just beyond reach. We believe we’ll feel it when we arrive at the next thing. But what if the chase itself is the very thing that blocks it? What if true fulfillment becomes available when we stop trying to get anywhere else?
Time Isn't the Enemy — Avoidance Is
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, reminds us that time is not something we escape or overcome—it’s something we observe and step out of. “Time isn’t precious because it is an illusion,” he writes. “What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now.”
Most of us aren’t running out of time—we’re running from presence. Stillness is not a waste. It’s where the illusion of The Not Now begins to unravel. In that quiet space, we face what we’ve been avoiding: the radical reality that this moment contains everything we thought we needed to chase.
The Illusion of Progress and the Reality of Being
In our obsession with becoming something else, we forget how to be. Even our most well-meaning practices—goal setting, vision boarding, future self-casting—can trap us in a state of resistance to what is. This doesn’t mean we abandon dreams. It means we stop postponing peace, love, or joy until they arrive. Make Sense
The irony is that many people discover their most profound fulfillment not in achieving more but in surrendering to the completeness of a gifted moment. Consider the parent who stops trying to teach their child something and marvels at their presence. Or the entrepreneur who pauses the grind and suddenly feels more clarity in stillness than in any boardroom or pitch session. Or the artist who forgets about the end product and loses themselves in the brush stroke. In each case, fulfillment isn’t earned. It’s experienced and remembered.
This doesn’t mean we refrain from taking action. It means we begin from presence, not lack. We shift our orientation from lack-driven doing to love-driven being. We don’t stop creating. We stop believing that we’ll finally experience fulfillment once we make the perfect outcome.
Practical Ways to Escape from "The Not Now"
1. Practice Doing Absolutely Nothing - Spend five minutes daily in complete stillness. Don’t try to meditate or clear your mind. Just sit. Breathe. Notice the urge to fill the space. Let it pass. Begin to normalize being without a goal.
2. Interrupt the Loop of Desiring - Every time you feel yourself reaching for what’s next—even mentally—pause. Ask, “What am I resisting in this moment?” Or, “What if this is already enough?”
3. Choose Presence Over Planning—Pick one part of your day to do fully in presence—a walk, a meal, a shower. Engage with it as if it were your only moment—because it is.
4. Watch Your Language Around Time - Notice how often you say, “I don’t have time” or “I’ll feel better when...” Shift your language to bring power back to the present: “Right now, I choose...”
Dragon Thoughts
We don’t need more time. We need fewer layers between us and the now.
The pursuit of fulfillment often distracts us from the fact that we are already full.
The Not Now is seductive—but it’s a lie. All that is real is here.
Stillness is not passivity. Its presence without resistance.
Manifestation without presence is just another form of avoidance.
Hmmm?: This Moment is the Miracle
The world will not slow down for you. It will continue to sell you The Not Now. But you don’t have to buy it. You can sit. You can breathe. You can reclaim control of your life as its dominant force and feel the miracle of being fully alive in this moment. That’s not wasting time. That’s finally living it.
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