“Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss

I’m a dreamer- I’m the kind of girl who wants to travel the world, experience new cultures, meet amazing people and eat exotic foods. But right now it seems the most ‘traveling’ I do is commuting back and forth to school and driving to work. The most ‘exotic’ foods I eat are Japanese white sweet potatoes and Cara Cara oranges from Whole Foods (not that I’m complaining).  The fact is, it’s easy for me to get so caught up in the future, that I forget to live in the present. I get so lost in my dreams and aspirations, that I take for granted all that’s happening… right here, right now, at this very moment. 

Mindfulness literally means, “the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something” (according to Google). Dreams are great and goals are important, but let’s take time to be ALIVE in our own lives, to be mindful. Let’s stop living life like it’s a checklist, always waiting for the next best thing- waiting the semester to end, for graduation, for school debt to be paid off. We’re waiting to get a raise at work, to meet “the one”, to travel the world, to lose weight and get fit. We impatiently wait for the weekend to come, or summer, or Christmas, or vacation. We long to be happy. But if we keep waiting for life to be perfect, then we’ll be waiting forever and we’ll miss the beauty of the here-and-now.