Enjoy every moment
You’ve likely heard of people at the end of life saying they wished they’d done something differently, put more value on certain things, lived life more fully. Why does it take something like a life threatening illness or impending death to create this shift? What if we looked at life in this way all of the time?
It’s easy to get sucked into the ever increasing pace and expectations of life. We go about our days taking care of others and of our job responsibilities, and preparing for the future. But what about now, the current moment? Why should completing our chores and thinking ahead not allow time for us to enjoy every moment, every day?
Being Mindful
Being mindful does not mean devaluing our goals or not fulfilling our responsibilities. It means being present and aware in every moment and appreciating, if not enjoying, the mundane or just the fact that we’re able to do what we’re doing, even if we’d rather be doing something else.
How many times have you driven somewhere and realized once you got there that you really don’t recall any of the time during your travel? You were completely in your head, thinking intensely, and your body was on auto-pilot. We’ve all done this. It didn’t change anything…didn’t make the time shorter or remove the necessity of what we’re about to do, but in a way we “lost” that time. It wasn’t appreciated or to an extent even experienced.
The Little Things
If we just pay attention to every moment, rather than looking ahead all of the time, we may notice moments of beauty, simple little pleasures, something that another did that was helpful and that deserves a thank you. Engaging fully in life is much more fulfilling than just waiting for time to pass or for something to happen.
Even during a crazy busy day there are little moments we can tune into that give life more meaning…a silly face your child makes, your dog’s blissful repose, a new blossom on the bush along your driveway, someone smiling as you walk by the grocery aisle, a favorite song on the radio. If we tune into these things, really give them our attention and time, life slows down just a little. We remember more about our day and likely will feel like it was a better day than if we didn’t notice and take those little moments to appreciate things.
We’re in this life; let’s enjoy every moment.