From Chapter 1 - Becoming Aware of Awesome Tuning in to Your Own Awesome We are so obsessed with our to-do lists and getting everything done that we rarely stop to notice what it is we are doing. Are you acting with compassion? Are you doing things that are meaningful? Are you living an authentic life with purpose and curiosity and joy? Are you cultivating a life filled with awesomeness? Or are you just keeping busy? Going through the motions? We've all got lots to do -- work, family, chores, weekly television dramas. But on my best days - which, isn't every day -- I act deliberately, instead of by default. I want to be alive and engaged in this life. Play in it. Feel it. Smell it. See it.

When you are tuned in and paying attention, and participating, awe is everywhere. It's time to notice. Awe is the anecdote to hopelessness and confusion and stress. It is the fuel of inspiration and creativity. It's a way to feel better, to love deeper, to get off the bench and participate in this life. Think of it this way: the fastest way to create your best life, to elevate your experience, is to notice how good it already is. It's time we marvel and wonder and feel the awe. Awareness - The Launch Pad to Awe We've got a little experiment going on around the house these days and the sole objective is to get the folks I live with to pay attention to the place they are living.

Each day, I change something up in the house where we've lived for 10 years. I turn a picture frame upside down; put a fork on the bookshelf when nobody's looking. Once I put the ukulele music where the piano book should be, and a candle with the wooden spoons. Then, I wait and see who will notice and when. My daughter, she's pretty good at this game. This is surprising since it seems nearly impossible for her to see the bath towel in the middle of the floor, or the empty toilet paper roll on the counter, or the Barbie on the dining room table. My husband is getting better at it too. Mr.

J might miss a cereal box in the cupboard, but the guy had no problem seeing a fork in the flower pot. He is starting to notice the other subtleties of family life too. He's more in tune. The game has helped me look at familiar things a new way. It's easy to become blind to the familiar spaces in our lives. We navigate our routine on autopilot and entire dimensions of our day become invisible. You get so used to seeing her there at the sink, that you don't even notice that her hair is a different color today or that she's wearing sadness around like a cloak. Or, you expect to see the brewed coffee each morning so you forget he made it just for you, just because he loves you, even though he doesn't even drink coffee.

We fail to see the blooms emerging from the shrub along the front window. We forget to watch as the shadows change along the bookshelf marking the movement of winter. But, I'll bet you can remember what it looks and feels like to see the first tulip blooming in your yard after a 65-inches- of-snow winter. We notice those special things. Thing is, life is better when we notice the blooms and the love and the people - all of the time. Awareness helps us to become present to the life we are leading. It is the antithesis of missing the stoplights on the drive to work. It roots us in the moment and connects us to the planet and the people and the things that we often just walk on by.

These of course are the things worth noticing, because these things are tethered to awe. When we become more present - engaged in the single moment of our lives that is right now-- we also see more to marvel and wonder about. We open the chutes of gratitude and appreciation. Lower the anxiety, and stress, and depression that can emerge when we are running around busy-like but not present to anything. When we live with awareness of the present moment, the little familiar things that often become invisible become visible again. Three Ways to Practice Mindful Awareness I'm not asking you to meditate for an hour or to move to a monastery. I'm just suggesting you breathe deep and slow down and practice paying attention to this moment now. The practice of mindfulness helps attract awesome and peace and clarity and other good stuff.

Try it. 1. Slow down. Give yourself space. Make time for the pause. Build in a few minutes here and there simply to take a deep breath, sit silently and take in the moment. I do this between transitions in my day. Before I make the call, or get up to get the coffee, or start on the new project.

I just pause and pay attention. You'll be surprised about what you discover that's been there all along. 2. Operate with all of your senses. Awareness grows when we use all that we are to experience the world. Taste it, see it, smell it, hear it, feel it. Notice textures and flavors and feelings and birds chirping in the background. Go beyond what you can see.

3. Stop doing and start being. We get so busy marking things off our To-Do List - sometimes I'll even add things to my list just so I have the joy of marking them off -- that we lose sight of what we are actually doing. We got a lot done, for sure, but does any of it matter? Did it excite you? Inspire you or someone else? Did it change the world for the better? To live an awesome life, we must become aware of what we are doing and how we are showing up. Then, we can attend to the things that matter most.