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What is the Precious Present? I spent a long time thinking about this since the last time I posted an article. In the article, Asking the Right Questions I quote an excerpt from the book How To Want What You Have by Timothy Miller, Ph.D. about how to live a good life versus living a better life.

In my time off from blogging, I tried to understand what kind of life I currently have and what type of life I want for my future. Again, in the Asking the Right Questions post I talk about longpath thinking from futurist Ari Wallach. I summarize what Wallach was saying by defining longpath as a way to visualize the future and to take actions that make the future into reality.

So What Did You Do?

I’m glad you asked. I took a vacation with my wife, her sister, and her now fiancé. I supported my now brother-in-law in planning the perfect place to propose on our trip. This was precious time that we got to have to create lasting memories and forge life-long bonds.

My wife and I babysat our nephew for the first time. This was such a great experience that no amount of money could have replaced it. The little guy is so cute, fun, exhausting, happy, carefree, talkative, and did I mention exhausting? We learned how far we still have to come in terms of parenting skills and taking care of a baby. Would I trade that precious time for anything? Nope.

We hosted many family dinners and spent extra time with friends. Between religious services, sporting events, and weekend getaways, my wife and I did it all. Throughout all of this, we kept proceeding in our careers and made progress toward our professional goals.

Why Are You Telling Me All This?

Each one of these moments, obviously too many to count, was precious in its own way. And, most important of all, none of them were without their struggles. They all had some sort of hard work to make those beautiful moments happen. Whether it was in the planning stage, like scheduling a vacation, or in the execution phase, like chasing a baby around the house, all of these experiences had their tough points. And yet… they were all perfect. 

My blogging sabbatical taught me that the present is precious and we all have a good life. We just have to train our minds to see it that way. After this thought exercise, we can then truthfully answer the question “are you happy?”

I have to do some things I don’t want to do. We all do, that’s part of life. But more often than not, we should be happy with the life we have. If that’s not true, then it is our responsibility to change it. No one will do it for us, but we must do it soon. Because, while the present is precious, it is also fleeting. Time, our most precious resource, does not stop and is limited.

So, cherish this moment, it will never happen again. Enjoy your good life and make your life better if you are not happy with it. As all the young kids would say, “You Only Live Once!” (YOLO)