When it comes to changing lifestyle habits, I am struck by how many rounds of trial and error it can take to incorporate a positive new routine into our lives. This holds true for an exercise routine, a healthier way of eating, a more conscious use of social media, productive work habits, or the adoption of a relaxation practice.

The present is all that tangibly exists. The past, though it happened and impacted us, is gone forever. We can look back on it, but we cannot change it. The future is something to look towards, and certainly to plan for, but it has not arrived yet. This moment is what we have, and when that has passed, we have the next moment, and the next.

The poet William Meredith observed that the worst that can be said of a man is that “he did not pay attention.”

Choose to Pay Attention. Do not mindlessly miss out.

Invest in your advancement, if for nothing else than to celebrate the capability of your brain. Learn for the love it, and celebrate the satisfaction and stimulation that follows. It can be for your career (your existing one, or your next one) or for your self-interest; to help others or to help yourself. Don’t wait until there is time – create the time as a gift to yourself.

The simple act of giving has a surprising ripple effect. Something as small as a smile and eye contact with someone, as you pass them, can lift them up just when they may need it. It’s easy to become inward-focused, and concerned only with happenings in our own world; but we are living alongside others who may be experiencing severe struggles. Our place is not necessarily to save them, but by simply seeing and acknowledging them we can help them to shift their perspective, even slightly. Sometimes, to be seen, is to be saved.

Many of us have an inclination, over time,  to let our lives become fairly serious. Having ground to cover means being focused, disciplined, and diligent, but the tone that we set does not need to be sombre. Quite the opposite, in fact! If life is meant to be a journey, why not choose, where possible, to cover ground with a spring in your step, and a smile on your face?

Spirituality is a highly personal affair, and the word certainly means different things to different people. It can be about religion, and faith in the God that you choose to believe in. It can be a sense of connectedness to the world and the people in it – a shared commonality that all of us can have, purely because we find ourselves on earth together.

Somewhere along the line, if we allow it to, our work can become a chore that erodes our energy rather than adds to it.  Tasks become rote, we stick to our comfort zone, or get zapped with continual overload, and we feel, less and less, the satisfaction that initially brought us such a sense of accomplishment.

Your family are the people you choose to define as such – the people that are linked to you in love – that are there to provide support, consistence, and bear witness to the way we choose to live our lives.
In terms of areas of focus, it can be far more rewarding to pay attention not to what we need from family (and this includes partners, children, parents, siblings, relatives and friends) but on what we can give to them.

The word Resources can be defined as: A stock or supply of necessary assets that can be drawn on by a person (or an organization) in order to function effectively. I like the idea of drawing on things for support, and in times of need, in order to cover ground. I’m not referring to scribbling on walls here – I mean turning to something that you have nurtured or worked on over time, and being able to use it to aid you in moving forward.

Many of us have the perception that creativity is for artists, writers and designers. We think that the title of artist must surely be reserved for those with a clear and recognized talent. But the judgement of “good” creativity is subjective, and it is the act of creation itself that holds so many benefits for us. To create something is simply to make something that did not exist before, and there can be many satisfying results.

You wake up with the best of intentions, but before you know it your day becomes a blur of doing; of moving from one task to the next in relentless succession until the end of the day arrives and you flop, with relief, onto the couch, where you attempt to give your brain a break by zoning out to tech or TV. Sound familiar?

The Oxford Dictionary definition of “Wellness” is: A condition obtained when a person achieves a level of health that minimizes the chances of becoming ill. I am not convinced that the absence of sickness (whether it be physical or mental) is the best way to describe feeling well.

I like this definition far better (found on the Pfizer website as a result of a google search):
Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you're thriving.

It’s a cliché, but I feel as if the year ahead is a blank canvas, and there lies great opportunity in how I would like to fill it. Realistically, there will be many things that happen this year that are out of our control, that will be challenging and difficult. If we cannot control those circumstances – we can decide how we would like to handle them, and give ourselves a framework that will aid us in coping as and when hard things happen.

The end of the year presents an opportunity, for many of us, to slow down… in order to reset for the next session of speeding up. Sometimes the degree of the slowing down is relative to the speed of the pace we were keeping, and in many of our cases, it was just too fast.

December is a wonderful month to set some clear intentions for your future; and begin to act on them, rather than waiting for the start of a new year. There is no time like today to begin making the changes that will add up to the outcome that you are looking for. And when January rolls around, you’ll have the days of December under your belt already, and have covered some ground.

It’s an unwanted and extremely unsettling feeling… things not going according to plan. Especially when a plan was in place.
Plans are safe, and they keep us organized and on track. I’ve just had a big lesson recently – something important that I planned for ages in advance went awry, and unfortunately so did I.

It’s so easy to be efficient and effective with our phones virtually attached to us and serving up a steady flow of communication. The different forms of messaging get funneled through in various formats – a messaging service; an email service; an inter-office communication service. We feel a compulsive need to check, read, and revert. To be available. To be visibly swift and responsive, often at the cost of methodical and qualitative. Before we know it; this adds up to a few hours of checking per day…

To move is to use the body that we have been given – for mood, for action, for energy – to literally cover ground. There are few things more satisfying than the feeling after a stint of intentional movement; whether it be a walk, a run, a cardio burst, a swim, or a stretching session.

It seems that rushing has become part of our DNA. Being in a hurry or constantly on the move – it’s all become part of a busy-ness badge that we feel compelled to wear. Why the frenetic pace on the treadmill of life, when its actually us that control the speed buttons?

There are people that walk the earth for their allotted time that bring true gifts to others. Their very way of being is a source of light and strength, and they disperse a peace and kindness naturally, in a way that boosts and benefits other people.