This crazy society of ours has put a premium on moving at the speed of sound, getting everything done immediately, if not sooner, and often while doing three other things at once. The result is that we skim across the surface of our lives, rather than diving down into the juice of it. We take five minute showers in the morning, half asleep, without ever really experiencing the hot water running over our backs, the scent of the shampoo. We microwave a frozen dinner and gulp it down in five minutes. This week, choose one thing each day that you usually do in a hurry, and slow it down! Savor the experience. Notice with all your five senses.

We all have old friends or relatives that have slipped through the cracks of our hectic, busy lives. Yet human connection is so essential to our well being. This week, make a point of getting in touch with a couple of them, other than just by email. Arrange a phone date, a lunch, a coffee. Catch up on your lives.

When you were a little kid, who did you want to be when you grew up? How are you like that now in what you do and in who you are? Are you a cowboy you dreamed about, only you ride herd on a thousand projects instead of a thousand head of cattle? Are you a dancer, only instead of en pointe and on stage, you dance with schedules and errands and chores? Find that spark of who you wanted to be as a child, and let it come through this week. Let it color everything you do. Recapture that childhood dream. And pay attention to how you can bring more of that dream into your life.