Busy Doing What?

Living, Loving and Laughing. These three jewels should be cherished like the precious gems that they are! Busy Living means to S.T.O.P. the business of life and enjoy every moment to the fullest. Busy Loving means to connect without judgement and to forgive unconditionally. Busy Laughing means to push pass the pain and celebrate! BUSY LIVING If you are not present in the moment, you will miss the moment. If you miss the moment, you are moving through life without fully living. Busy Living means to: See The Opportunities Present (S.T.O.P.). See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and enjoy every moment. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) because we don’t know how much time we have. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) because we don’t know how much time our loved ones will be around. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and put worries aside. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and have a blast. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and be positive and encouraging to others. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and do what you love and what makes you feel free. See the opportunities present (S.T.O.P.) and LIVE! Busy living means doing what drives you and not what others drive you to do. Busy living means living your life and not someone else’s. Busy living doesn’t mean winning every race or reaching every goal, but enjoying the journey, every step of the way. Busy living is turning off your phone when your spouse is sharing the details of their day. Busy living is pausing and applauding someone for a great accomplishment. Busy living is pushing past your fears and singing karaoke on stage, ziplining for the first time or going back to finish college after decades. Busy living is stopping and taking notice of the flowers, trees, sunshine and the rain. When I was in college at UCLA I had a Geography professor who would regularly remind us to walk often and take notice of the beauty around us. He said when we are speeding by in car, we miss the beauty of our environment. We miss the melody created by singing birds. We miss the romance of the amazing but fleeting sunset. We miss the picturesque transformation of the autumn trees. Busy living is creating wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. Busy living is not dwelling on the past or planning the future and making every moment count. Live a stress-free life…as stress free as you can make it. Try to keep things simple. It will reduce the number of burdens you have to carry. Decide to live. Choose to live! Live because you can. Live because you are alive! “Life is a beach!” Believe Enjoyment Always Can Happen. Although we have responsibilities like work, bills, taking care of loved ones, eating healthy, life should be enjoyable. You only get one here on earth (that I know of). I heard a famous Irish Toast from Kevin Hart (my amazing former boss). He said “I would like to make a toast to Lying, Stealing, Cheating and Drinking. If you must lie, lie with the one you love; If you must steal, please steal my sorrows; If you must cheat, cheat death because I would not want to live a day without you; If you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.” My mom died at age 57 of breast cancer. She never saw me get married. I cried all the way down the aisle. She never saw my dress. She never went with me to the tasting, to choose flowers or to decide on the guest list. She never met my beautiful children. I cried leaving the hospital with my first bundle of joy, bawling my eyes out because I had to accept that my mother - who was the best mom and grandmother on the planet (in my opinion) - would never meet her adorable grandchildren. They would never experience the best grandma hugs in the world. They would never taste her award-winning cooking or one-of-a-kind Red Velvet cake. I remember shopping at Babies R Us. I was about seven or eight months pregnant, looking for new baby supplies, strollers, bedding, etc. I looked over to the next aisle and there was a young lady about as pregnant as I was. She had on a cute ruffled, baby doll maternity blouse with matching solid, maternity stretch pants and flats. I could see her feet swelling a little in her cute Tory Burch’s. Standing next to her, comparing strollers, was clearly the enormously proud grandmother-to-be. It was the most precious mother and daughter moment I could have ever imagined. I found myself staring, then suddenly, I became overwhelmed with sadness. The tears rolled down my cheeks right there in Babies R Us. At that moment I realized the harsh reality that I would never have that moment with my mother! I could not stop the tears so I left my overstuffed basket and ran out of the store to find some secluded corner where I could scream and cry my eyes out. And I did; I cried for hours. Why am I sharing this incredibly sad story? I plead with you! Stop and live! Create memories! Do not simply cherish them, but continuously create as many as you can. Take the time! Make the time! Find the time! It is worth it! I’m sorry to be talking about death, but death unfortunately helps make life so relevant. Without death, we do not realize how valuable and important life is, so stop, live and make every moment count.