As this year comes to an end, a new one awaits. As a chapter closes in our lives, a new one begins. This past year has been a wonderful journey – and with an end comes a new beginning.

This new beginning is just a reminder of how important it is to take the time to pause and reflect.

Nothing in life is permanent. Everything is temporary.  With everything always changing, it is crucial to live in the moment.  Be aware of the present. Fully enjoy what you are doing while you are doing it.

With the pressures of modern society and the stresses in our lifestyles today, we are constantly moving and thinking, planning and scheduling, worrying and analyzing. Our minds are working tirelessly and endlessly whether we are awake or asleep.

While we drop our kids off at school, we’re thinking about being late for an appointment. While cooking dinner, we’re thinking about the pile of laundry waiting for us, the bills we have to pay, the phone calls we need to make. While our children are playing, we’ve tuned out their laughter only to consume ourselves with worries about our job or finances.

To those of you who seem to always be looking ahead, stop yourself and be aware of the right now. 

Enjoy your maternity leave because it goes quickly. Enjoy your toddler or preschooler because once these precious stages are gone, they are gone forever.

Our kids grow up so fast, with a blink of an eye they have become teenagers.

When they’re babies we say, “I can’t wait until they’re walking.”

When they’re walking we say, “I can’t wait ‘till they’re talking.”

When they’re talking, it’s “I can’t wait until they start school.”

Next thing you know they’ll be in grade twelve, asking for car keys and embarrassed to be seen hugging you in public.

Enjoy the journey, not only the destination… because everything changes and there is always something new just around the corner.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. ~ Henry David Thoreau