Take the time to smell the cookies baking, the resinous scent of fresh pine. Feel the fresh air on your face. Catch snowflakes on your tongue, if you’re lucky enough to live in a place that gets snow. (Don’t worry about February and March yet. Enjoy the first December snows for what they are.)

Don’t rush from one event to another; slow down and really be in the moment.

• Think about the fun you’ll have when you get there.
• Make up stories about the people (strangers) you see around you.
• Be thankful you’re able to get away. Many people can’t.
• Play games. There are some ideas at the Manage Your Muse site.
• And as a last resort, remind yourself that this trip is just one weekend out of your life. If it’s truly miserable, start figuring out ways to improve it next year.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with tuning out the world once in a while. We all need a break on occasion. But when tuning out is your standard operating procedure, you’re missing out on a lot.

This week, just notice where and when you tune out the world. What happens when you do?

What have you done for yourself, lately? So often we are so busy doing, doing, doing for others—our jobs, our families, our communities, our church, and so on—that we never take any time to attend to our own needs.

So schedule some time for yourself this week. And honor that appointment like you’d honor an appointment with the head of your country. Because you’re worth it!

This week, make the time and the effort to make a positive change. It might be as simple as being friendly to a grumpy sales clerk, or paying for the car behind you at a toll gate. It might be volunteering, or picking up some litter, or letting someone in line move in front of you.

You’ll be surprised at how good that small expenditure of time and energy will make you feel.

Fun doesn’t always just come along, although it can. Often, you have to help it out a bit. So this week, schedule in some time for fun — and plan for it. What’s just plain fun to do? Make it happen!

When is the last time you just stared off into space and imagined stuff? Dreamed about things? Took a little mental voyage someplace else?

Without dreams, how do we know what we want to do or where we want to go? This week, pencil some daydreaming time into your planner. Aim for a minimum of ten minutes a day.

When is the last time you stopped to watch a sunset? Noticed a bird in a tree? Appreciated the aroma wafting from a bakery? Savored a piece of creamy dark chocolate?

As you plan out your week this week, schedule in some time each day to stop and enjoy life. Make it at least as important as completing that report, sending that email, making that phone call. After all, what are you working for? What are you living for?

The result is often that we end up doing things we don’t want to do and really don’t have the resources to do. We’re spread so thin that there just isn’t enough of us left to be of use to anyone. We’re tired, we’re stressed, and resentful. Or else, we back out, procrastinate, do a slipshod job because that’s all we’ve got in us.

This week, before you say “yes” to anything, take some time—twenty four hours, if possible—and think it through. What’s it going to cost you to do it? What are you going to have to give up to make it happen? Unless it’s something you really, really want to do, this week just say “no.”