love where you are

a good friend of mine introduced me to a lovely idea. each year she decides on a single word that will define the year ahead. i love the simplicity of this notion, and the potential it has to keep me focused on achieving some aspect of growth or self-improvement, etc.

i've thought long and hard about what my word for this year should be, and none have seemed quite right. anyone who knows me well realizes how challenged i am to reduce anything down to a single word (much less a word that is to encompass the direction of my life for an entire year). so i've modified this little activity to suit me.

my phrase for this year is: love where you are

i've always been inspired and intrigued by the practice of "mindfulness" in Buddhism. this is the beautifully simple notion of being fully present in every moment, and reveling in the sweet details of even the smallest of our experiences.

i want to be present this year. i want to give myself the gift of truly surrendering to each experience and understanding that there is beauty and joy and learning and growth in every moment (good and bad).

last year was intense. i had so many wonderful (and some not so wonderful) experiences that pushed my limits physically, mentally and emotionally. and as i look back on it all, i am very grateful for last year. but what i regret most is how much i found myself wishing i were doing something else. during the first couple months, wishing i were pregnant, during the last several months, wishing i weren't; wishing work were less intense, wishing family life were less intense; wishing i were traveling, wishing i wasn't traveling; you get the point.

and amidst all that wishing, i failed to realize and enjoy the fullness of the moments i was actually living.

so this year is about loving where i am. whether it is during the two hurried hours i spend with sienna at night in our crazy little family room surrounded by toys; during a brief intimate conversation with adam as we traipse around our bathroom getting ready for the day; during a weary-eyed 3 am feeding with olivia; taking in a quiet sunrise during one of my runs; sitting at my desk writing another creative brief or traversing the switchbacks on an 8000 ft yosemite hike, i have to remember - to love where i am in that moment. it is the only moment that matters.