This week as we rush around leading our busy lives I want to write about taking time to “smell the roses” and living in the here and now.

Like many, this is something I’ve not always done but I have made a conscious effort to do so in the past five years and this has had an amazing happy impact on my life.   My whole attitude and outlook to life is one of pure joy and happiness. Friends often ask why I’m so chirpy and what I’m on. Well the secret is “the joy of life, the here and now”.

Sitting on a train recently, delayed for some reason or another, I was glad of the extra time as I completed my Blog. After approximately five minutes of complete standstill, the noise in the carriage increased. People started to fidget, huffing and puffing, tapping away frantically on their i-pads, laptops and mobiles, newspapers rustled.  The delay had imposed an extra pressure on everyone, they were forced to be still.

It seems we are no longer capable of sitting still and just being. We are always looking to the next thing. It is the norm to be rushing around, multi tasking, talking on our mobiles, planning ahead, walking, texting, anything but appreciating the here and now.

I work in London, a beautiful vibrant City where we all rush around, rarely savouring the here and now. We are all too eager to get onto the next thing, be in the next place. Does anyone remember the saying “it’s not the destination it’s the journey?”

I recall someone saying to me as a child “make the most of your school days, they are the best days of your life”.  At the time I can remember thinking to myself, no they’re not and I couldn’t wait for school to end, to grow up and go out into the world to make my mark.

Now a funny thing has happened, because whenever I look back at my school days, or certain jobs, I think of them fondly and agree that they were some of the best times of my life.   However, did I really appreciate and value them at the time? If I’m honest I’m not 100% sure I did. I was always striving for the next thing, whatever that was at that moment in time.

How many times have you heard someone say, any of the following, hoping that it will lead to a better life?

“When I win the lottery; When I get married and have kids; When the kids grow up; When I’m 20/30/40/50 (delete where applicable) I’ll have; When I retire I’ll do that”

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have dreams or goals but we should take pleasure in the present time. Do you believe life will be better at some point in the future or do you show appreciation and gratitude for the present time? Are you taking time to smell the roses?   If we take time to savour the here and now life becomes so much easier and happier.   We’ll still look back on them in 5-20 years time with nostalgia and say “I loved those days” but even better if we actually appreciate them right here, right now in the present moment.

Children have this mastered.  If you watch children play they are totally in the here and now, unaware of tomorrow, they appreciate and greet every second of their day, making the most of everything.

Some of my readers are based in Jamaica, Mexico, Greece and Kenya where I believe the pace is more relaxed. I’d be intrigued to know if they appreciate the present time more or are if they are also always looking to the next thing?

Let’s take the time to “Smell the Roses” – after all, we never know what tomorrow will bring.

Yesterday’s the past, Tomorrow’s the future, But today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the Present : “Bill Keane”

Wishing all my wonderful readers a beautiful week smelling the roses.