Being in the moment.  What does that really mean?  I’m sure that if we ask a 1000 people, we’d get some very similar answers.  You thought I was going to say a 1000 different answers didn’t you.  Well, I think most people can understand what being in the moment is about.  Actually I think it’s a lot of things that are rolled into one.

First let me just say that I think the majority of people today tend to take life too fast.  Or maybe they let it pass them by without taking advantage of the good things all around.  We live life in a fast paced world.  Mom’s and Dad’s are rushing to work driving liking mad to get there, barely avoiding tickets or sometimes an accident with another car, feeling the wrath of the driver behind them on the back of their neck.  Blazing through a very long work day only to come home, grab the kids and rush them to soccer, dance class, piano class, or some other sort of event and stopping along the way to grab a “Fast Food” meal at the local burger joint on the corner.

When was the last time you really sat down and relaxed with your family or friends, not worrying about the world around you?  Or when was the last time that you looked at life and decided to live each day to the fullest by filling that day with good things shared by your closest love, family or friends?

Sometimes we need to leave the hassle and stress behind and enjoy those around us.  Actually I’ll restate that by saying lets enjoy those around us ALL the time.  Recently while walking my Husky in the neighborhood I found a small gathering of adults and kids off to the side of a field.  Curiosity getting the better of me, Sam and I walked over to see what was going on.  To my surprise, there nestled among all the kids sitting on the grass and adults standing around was this deer.  Surprisingly it was curled up in the grass, allowing the kids to pet it like our trusted cats and dogs.  Reflecting on this as I watched the deer remain calm and relaxed, enjoying the comfort of the kids and the carrot snacks it was munching on from it’s new found friends I took notice of all the happy faces around.  The adults with not only a look of awe, but of quite pleasure at something that just doesn’t happen in a lifetime.  The kids beaming brightly and smiling with a part of wildlife that has chosen to sit with them for a spell and share in each other’s comfort.  The deer to his credit, was relaxed, jaws working back and forth on the carrots, accepting the rubbing on its back from the kids.  Maybe even knowing that a new found relationship was in the making.

Even Samson my Husky was unnaturally mellowed out and accepting of the deer’s presence. Oh the deer knew he was there alright, even as close as 6 feet at times.  Wow, what a time of enjoyment for everyone, living in the moment, finding happiness with all those around in a situation that not normally happens.  But finding these moments and others may not seem as hard as you may think.  So getting rid of all the distractions and busyness and making an effort to say to yourself I’m going to live in the moment, live each day fully and enjoy life with my love, or my family or my friends should be something we do more of than the other.

The end of this moment found the children delighted and happy with having befriended this deer.  The Adults, tucked this moment away in their hearts to recall time and time again as they live life.  The deer, well whose to say that it wasn’t an Angel in disguise bringing happiness and joy to those around.  If not, then I’m sure the deer walked off in to the night, with a full belly and a warm heart being in the presence of those who normally have other intentions and a new insight of these two legged animals.

As for me, well, I too was awestruck and happy at having experienced this.  Living each day to the fullest has taken on new meaning for me lately in the most wonderful of ways.  But this story I will save for another time, because it deserves the limelight all it’s own.

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The Roller Coaster of Life

Whoa …. WOW …. just coming off the “Manta” at Seaworld in Orlando i found myself in awe of just how great a ride that was.  Climbing the hill being held upside down in the seat, my weight baring against the restraints as I’m looking at the ground, in great anticipation of that first drop and rapid increase in speed.  Twisting, turning, dropping, corkscrewing, inverting and looping through all kinds of curves on one of the smoothest of rides I’ve ever felt was and exhilarating experience.  If you’ve never gone, then you need to “do it” at least once.  But you know what ….. that was a choice I made to ride the ups and downs of the roller coaster.

But since this Blog is basically about health, wellness and fitness, you just know I have to call you out on the ups and downs of our lives as it relates to the nutrition we eat or the exercise we do.  Any given day I can walk around and look at people and see their lack of fitness or their example of a good fitness routine in your life.  That goes for food as well.  I have great sympathy for those around me, because I KNOW that daily life is a struggle with these things.  It really is at times like a roller coaster ride with all of its peaks and valleys.  Sometimes we make a good effort to eat right, only to fall off the wagon and get right back into a slump of bad habits.  Don’t get me wrong, I include myself in this too. The same thing goes for fitness as well.  But here I see a great struggle for most people.  With having spoken with hundreds of people now, I can see that of the people I come in to contact with each day, probably only 5-10% of them have some sort of workout routine that they stick too.  It’s very sad in a way, when we think about our bodies and how it’s the one thing carrying us through life, yet 90% of people i see, are not doing anything to protect their bodies and strengthen themselves so that they can eat, live, work and play with less fear of injury.  WOW …. why do we do this to ourselves?  Complacency is one I think, but there are others, …. like stress, fast paced life, laziness, lack of knowledge and so on ….

Finding a healthy balance in eating is one thing and a lot of people can stick with it, but finding a workout program and sticking with it seems to be more of a struggle.  They’ll start a routine, and only after a few days give up, but then months later pick it up again, then drop it again riding the roller coaster of fitness decisions.

So here’s a few words of encouragement to you.  Find a work out program at home and muster all the mental strength you have and “do it” for 15 days.  I’ve noticed that if you can stick with something for that period of time, you’ll generally be on the road to more successes than failures.  That’s how I approach doing things in my life and have found great success.  Lastly, if one day you skip and don’t workout and you consider that a failure, then in your mind, forget about it.  Take the next day, a brand new day as the day you will succeed and move forward instead of letting past failures promote future failures.  Each day is a bright new day to succeed in whatever it is you are doing, so wake up with that mindset and you’ll put yourself on the fast track to success.

If you found this post helpful, insightful or maybe even just silly, then give it a “Tweet” and feel free to comment below!

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