What Matters Most...Treasuring Each Moment

What matters most to you? Not to be morbid, but if you were to finish your life today how would you feel about the time that you spent, the minutes you gave up? When it's all said and done, it's the little things in life that often bring the most happiness.

 Lately I keep thinking about this topic of what matters most. I'm a "doer", I'm always on the run and always doing something. It's so difficult for me to sit down and be still...something I'm working on, personally, in fact. I'm an opportunist, a dreamer, and sometimes these dreams can get the best of me. Not that dreaming is a bad thing. But when you're always chasing the dream it's easy to forget about reality, the present.

Get back to the here and now.

I was walking back from church the other day and thinking just this. I've recently found myself not caring so much if "x, y, or z" gets done and just enjoying the time in the now.

Because now is all that we can influence at the moment. And now is where we're all at in this second. It's easy to get caught up in the future. And future dreaming is a good thing; it helps us to get where we want to be. But you still have to be present in order to get to the future. Moments are a crazy thing to think about. They're only for a moment. And if you miss the moment it's gone. There's no getting it back. Moments are also perceived differently by different people. They're depicted by our attitudes. And attitudes are self-determined, even when the moments are not. When life is crazy around you and you feel like you're doing all you can to run by the seat of your pants, remember the moment.

Practices for staying in the moment.

I've recently tried to stay in the moment by practicing a couple of things, personally, each day and hope these practices will help you stay in the moment, yourself.First off, I've recently stopped spending so much time on social media, especially Instagram. As a health coach and recipe creator, I'm always making the excuse that Instagram is helping me draw on my creativity. But what it does instead is cause me to chase future moments instead of the present. Social media leads us to imagine what our lives COULD be like instead of leaning in to the moment at hand. It deprives us of the moment and leaves us grasping with envy at what other people have and what we think will make us happy. So, recognizing this, and recognizing that no, scrolling through Instagram is not my only source of inspiration. And in fact, it probably quenches inspiration in the long run.

Second, I've been journaling my day more often. Each morning I start the day with positive intentions, devotional reading, and journaling about everything from the day before, my thoughts on life, things I'm struggling with, and things I'm rejoicing in. Journaling, as I talked about in another post, grounds me to the moment and helps me to see the silver lining in hard times and be grateful for the good times. This time to pause helps me to slow down and get back to what really matters in life.

Lastly, putting relationships with people above my own agenda helps me to remember what matters. People matter. I genuinely would love to go get coffee and spend hours talking with each and every one of you...we kinda can when you schedule your discovery call! This is something that can easily get pushed away when we crowd our life with business and agendas. But the work will always be there. The push to do more won't stop. But people won't always be in your life. People come and go. And it's our job and our design to be in relationships with others. This is what will bring the most joy! Not meeting a deadline or filling your life up with too many "extras."

Healthy thoughts are present thoughts.

All that said, I see far too often the woman who feels so alone in life and strives to be noticed by adhering to a diet plan or exercising to change her body all the while wasting time on appearance instead of filling her time with more lasting and meaningful moments. We can easily get caught up in over-thinking our portion sizes or calorie counts, etc. I can say this because this was me, too! I spent far too much time at the gym running aimlessly on a treadmill and far too much time worrying about going out with friends when the restaurant wasn't one that I thought would fit my restricted diet. So much wasted energy worrying about these menial things when what would truly bring me lasting joy was focusing on the RELATIONSHIPS!

So, this is my challenge for you. Stop wasting your thoughts, your energy, your emotions of the things that don't matter. Fill your life with what's already around you and seek to be complete by placing your treasure in the "here and now" instead of the "one day".

So here's your question...

How are you going to stop seeking one day and start focusing on the moment, now?

Comment below and let's chat!