As most of you know, I’m a planner.  Not only do I find it enjoyable to research options and then chart a course forward, I’m a big fan of nexting.  (Yes, there’s a blog post which explains nexting!)  For the most part, planning benefits my life in many ways. It helps me to form great habits, examine different options in order to make good decisions, and allows me to anticipate the future with optimism.  But as with most things, there’s a catch.

The “downside” to planning is that sometimes it locks me into a course of action that can be rigid if not downright obsessive.  Even worse perhaps, it distracts me from being present in the here and now. The good news is that every new moment offers me (and all of us) another opportunity to practice being here now, to appreciate the beauty right in front of me, and to always remember that “this is it.” [Read more…]