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Sixty and Me published “Living in the Now,” a poem credited to poet Molli Nickell. Its verses encourage readers to learn from the past, avoid treating imagined futures as certain, and focus on ordinary moments and choices in the present.
Sixty and Me has published “Living in the Now,” a poem credited to Molli Nickell that urges readers to release past regrets and worries about the future and attend to the day in front of them. The piece pairs that personal message with a call for kindness, acceptance and respect for other people’s choices.
The poem opens with morning as an opportunity to meet a day not yet known: “Here is a day I have never yet known.” It then addresses two familiar sources of worry. The past, represented as a visitor asking why the speaker made certain choices, is treated as something to learn from rather than revisit indefinitely. The poem says people acted with the understanding they had at the time, and encourages them to take the lesson and move on.
It treats anxiety about the future as speculation rather than fact. “But ‘what if’ is guessing,” the poem says, comparing those imagined possibilities with a breeze passing through a window. Nature supplies its examples of present attention: a tree stands where it grows, while a cat settles into a patch of sunlight without wishing for an earlier one. The speaker invites readers to pause, feel their feet on the ground and listen to an ordinary sound.
The poem also moves beyond individual attention to relationships and community. It asks readers to let other people advance in their own ways, forgive the world and its people, and make room for kindness and children’s distinct paths. It closes with the lines, “Begin where you are. Love your life in the now.” The article also invites readers to discuss worry and whether they would rather focus on matters they can influence.
A Poem About Attention and Agency
The poem’s central idea is that attention can be directed toward what is happening now and toward choices within a person’s influence. Its distinction between learning from past decisions and repeatedly dwelling on them gives the message a practical shape: acknowledge what happened, carry forward what it taught, and return to the present.
That framing also extends to public and personal concerns readers cannot control. The poem does not claim that difficult circumstances disappear or that worry can simply be switched off. Instead, it asks readers to make space for ordinary experiences, kindness and other people’s autonomy while the world continues changing. For readers drawn to reflective poetry, the combination of personal calm and communal care is the piece’s main point.
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How the Article Presents the Poem
The source is a Sixty and Me article presenting the poem and inviting reader discussion. The page identifies Molli Nickell as the author and links to additional poems by her. It also includes a promotional note describing Nickell as a poet and publisher and refers readers to a book titled “Earth’s Grand Hotel,” attributed in the source’s description to Theo.
Sixty and Me states that its community-supported site may earn a commission when readers buy through links. That disclosure is relevant to the page’s commercial context, but it does not change the poem’s wording or establish anything about how readers respond to it. The supplied material includes no publication date, readership figures or independent review of the poem.
““Here is a day I have never yet known.””
— Molli Nickell, in “Living in the Now”
Publication Details Not Supplied
The supplied source material does not state when the poem was published, whether it appeared elsewhere first, or whether the version provided is the complete text. It also offers no information about the poem’s reception, readership or any response from Nickell beyond the author description on the page. Those details cannot be confirmed from the material available here.
The poem expresses ideas about attention, worry and acceptance as poetic reflection. The source does not present research or evidence establishing that its approach will reduce distress for readers, and the article should not be read as a clinical claim or mental-health treatment recommendation.
Reader Discussion and More Poems
Sixty and Me’s page invites readers to discuss whether they worry about things they cannot change and whether they would prefer to make room for matters they can influence. Readers can also follow the source’s link to additional poems by Molli Nickell. No follow-up publication, event or later update is identified in the supplied material.
Key Questions
Who wrote “Living in the Now”?
Sixty and Me credits the poem to Molli Nickell and links to a page listing additional poems by her.
What is the poem about?
It encourages readers to learn from the past without remaining stuck in regret, recognize that future “what if” worries are uncertain, and pay attention to present moments. It also emphasizes kindness and respect for other people’s choices.
When was the poem published?
The source material does not provide a publication date, so the timing of its publication is unclear.
Does the source say the poem will reduce anxiety?
No. The poem offers a reflective perspective on worry and the present, but the supplied article does not make or substantiate a clinical claim about its effects.
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