What are your plans for the summer? Are you making time to simply enjoy yourself? With unemployment steadily rising, and the recovery from the financial crisis taking more time than we might have thought (and certainly taking some strange off-shoots!), it is very easy to become overwhelmed. To focus on work and finances, to the exclusion of everything else, is an understandable fallback position.

However, when we do this we end up living at best a life that is too focused, too structured. At worst, we end up living a fear based life. How can we open things up, get the flow going, and still pay attention to detail? W can do this by staying centered in the present. The past has already happened, the future is yet to happen. We need to understand the past, to understand how we got where we are, but we need to pay attention to the moment. To see what is before us, to take the time to use each of our five senses to embrace life, and live it to its fullest.

Wake up with happy thoughts and a smile on your face. We all have worries, but we also have things to be happy about, to be thankful for. Start you day by listing five things that you are thankful for. You can do this mentally, you can keep a journal, you can record it – however you want to do this – just do it on a daily basis. When times are bad – look over your journal, and you will know that there is good out there.

Be thankful that you have a place to live. Be thankful that you saw that lovely picture in the clouds. Be thankful that you have the companionship of your pets. Be thankful that you enjoy your morning cup of coffee or tea. See life in all of its colors and scents, in all of its wonderful movement. Be a part of this thing called life!