I view mistakes as opportunities to learn, because mistakes are life's expenses, and I don't like to run a deficit. Much of my life, I was a repeat offender, choosing bad relationships, maintaining self-destructive habits and generally doing the opposite of what I believed in order to please other people. I wasted a lot of valuable years not being genuine to myself.

Part of not being authentic resulted in time and energy wasted on planning - reciting what I would say and do in events that often never occurred. Because it didn't come from my core, I felt I had to rehearse. The over planning of the future resulted in my inability to appreciate the present.

Life is, by definition, unpredictable, but that is not to say that planning isn't necessary. If SparkPeople has taught me nothing else, planning can be an essential tool when used appropriately. It is a matter of finding balance. The balance comes from trusting myself, and trusting myself comes by way of achieving small, attainable goals that have meaning.

It's easier to digest life now in nibbles rather than the inedible chunks that I used to try to consume. I think of it as life's portion control. It allows me to take note of what's in front of me at this very moment and engage in the present, because life doesn't happen in the past nor in the future. Life is happening right now, and this is not a dress rehearsal!