Put Your Heart into It

A while ago I was looking for a new and clever Facebook status message when I came across a "Confucious Says" site. I know we've all heard of these sayings and have likely used them ourselves a time or two - or at least confused them with the Forest Gump type quotes, such as "Life is like a box of chocolates..."

As I began to read, I began to think... no wonder these sayings have been around so long, they have as much relevance today as they did back then. Confucious, the great philosopher, wrote "Wherever you go, go with all of your heart".

I repeated it to myself a few times "Wherever you go, go with all of your heart... Wherever you go, go with all of your heart..." and I realized that he was talking about engagement, a common catch phrase in today's world. The Webster's dictionary defines engagement as "that which engages or engrosses the full attention of..."

We love our families and friends. We are intelligent, caring, hardworking people... but are we engaged? Do we practice engagement? Do we go with all of our hearts?

Often times, we tend to go through the days in a blur of distraction and haste. We rush through our mornings, get the kids dressed and fed - out the door to school; co-ordinate dinner, daycare and dental appointments with the husband - cross it off the list. Race around, get things done at home, plan the grocery shopping and errands while in the shower, drive to work while mentally preparing for a meeting and later spend our evenings absentmindedly making dinner, just to get it over and done with so that we can put the kids to bed and collapse in state of exhaustion.

And life quietly slips by us.

Wherever you go, go with all of your heart. Be engaged. Take the time to live in the moment, without distraction, without hurry. Pay attention to what you are doing, while you are doing it. Give your full attention to the people you are interacting with, whether it is your children, spouse, co-workers, or customers. Enjoy your life and the people in it. Pay attention.

As I shut off my computer, my Facebook Status reads:

"Show up for your own life, and put your heart into it."