Appreciating the moment

It is a natural instinct for a child to think of their parent as "old". The earliest moment I remember asking my Mom how old she was, was when she was 33.  At the time of asking that question, the answer "33" had no meaning ... it could been 99, and it would have had meant the same thing to me. It was incomprehensible. It was another life time away and nothing that I was going to have to worry about.

Next April I turn 33!!

They say that life is like a roll of toilet paper, in the beginning it seems to last forever. Never to run out. Nearer the middle it starts to speed up and runs out faster and faster towards the end until ....

Someone once told me about the importance of "appreciating the moment". Life for most of us is a mad, rush, rat-race. We tend to spend our time, looking forward to the next thing in our day. It normally goes something like this:

Wakeup, rush to gym, rush home. Shower, get ready. Sit in traffic, need to get to work. Right - need to check email, what's for dinner? Get through meetings, past the shops. Traffic. Home.
Kids quick, some TV, zzzzzzzzz. 
Repeat.

We all have that "I cant believe its Friday tomorrow" or "where did today go?" feeling that comes with living like that.

The importance of taking something out of each moment, adds a huge amount of value to your life by simply taking the time to appreciate a few small things. Sitting in traffic, take in the sun that's coming up, or the trees that have started to blossom. Take a minute to smile at the homeless person at the traffic light. Each of these very small things can often be missed in the rat-race we call life.

The fragility of life seems to hit home when someone inspiring passes away suddenly. Steve Jobs, is a business icon and one of the great visionaries of our time. His books are inspiring and he creates products that people love, and have a cult following for.

He built a business that has a value that almost matches Microsoft and Google combined. All over the net today people have posted many of Steve Jobs' top quotes, and they're all inspiring. The following stand outs for me:

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” Steve Jobs
While you're out there running through the "fast middle section" in the toilet roll of life, make sure that you're doing something that you love, and take in those small defining moments - they make the biggest difference.

Rest in peace Steve Jobs - (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)