Most of you have either headed back to work, or will be starting back at the office today after a holiday break. That might be a bittersweet moment. Maybe you love your job, but you also love time with your family and friends, and maybe also a bit of time with your butt on the couch catching up on movies, football, and a little HGTV. As we start into this new year, where you think, “I am going to live my life just a bit differently this time,” think about the precious time you might have had over the holidays. Maybe you had a day off, or a week, or two weeks. Whatever amount of time you had to do whatever you wanted, cherish it. As you get pulled into your fast paced life where sometimes you feel like the wheels will spin-off, try to take a moment, slow down and remember this quieter time.

I recently found this quote from author Jonathan Carroll. I did not read one of his books, but found it online a few weeks ago. I have always loved the word bliss. That perfect moment when you go ah, this is the life. It does not always have to be when you are on vacation, or have down time. Maybe it is that moment of quiet when you put your feet up after getting your kids to bed, or maybe it is after giving a presentation that you know you nailed, or maybe it is as you slide into a hot bubble bath.

“One of the saddest realities is most people never know when their lives have reached the summit. Only after it is over and we have some kind of perspective do we realize how good we had it a day, a month, five years ago. The walk together in the December snow, the phone call that changed everything, that lovely evening in the bar by the Aegean. Back then you thought “this is so nice”. Only later did you realize it was the rarest bliss.”

If only we could bottle those moments, and on our toughest days open the bottle for seconds to be reminded of the smell, sound, and taste of that moment. Just to tell us life is good, that it does have moments of bliss. While we cannot bottle them, we can hold on to those rare moments. It is a new year, month, day. Just like we did for 2013, Chris and I are going to keep our jar out for “Good things that happened in 2014.”

Want to join us, so you can look back at your moments of bliss?