Living in the Now

OCTOBER 2013

“We are always getting ready to live and never living.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s so easy to get caught up in planning for life, from big events to coordinating family schedules and planning holidays and vacations, that you forget to live today, taking each day as it comes. This week we’ve been thinking a lot about living in the moment, appreciating every minute we have.

With the frenzy of fall activities, it is so easy to get swept up, and sometimes we even view the sweet, blissful moments that make life so special as interruptions in our buys days, distractions from our schedules. How silly! We should learn to appreciate the moments that cause us to pause, draw a breath, savor something small.

We want to challenge ourselves, and we want to challenge you, to live in the moment. Take each step as it comes instead of looking 20 miles down the road. There is nothing wrong with planning and thinking ahead, but when that is distracting you from everyday life it’s time to reel it in.

Do you have a hard time living now, seizing each moment as it comes? Have any practical tips for slowing down? I think it’s especially hard for us planners and doers, because there’s always something “bigger and more important” than, say, sipping your coffee in silence and taking in the morning stillness, re-reading your favorite book, playing house with your kids, picking flowers. But we won’t always have those moments, especially with our children, so we should be sure to grab a hold of them when they come, and do our very best to savor those sweet moments.

So what do you say? Let’s help each other seize each day!