Don't look now but Holiday Fun Time in the United States is fast approaching. Yes, Labor Day is receding in the rearview mirror, the kids are back in school and merchants are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. No doubt Halloween will come and go in a blur, and then it will be game on until we usher in a new year with fireworks and resolutions we hope to keep.
And yet it seemed like last year's holiday party happened only yesterday, and you can't even remember if you had a good time. And the promotional fliers you wanted to send to merchants before the 2013 holiday rush but didn't because you sent the materials too late to the printers are sitting in a box somewhere in the supply room. And you have a bookmark in your browser for some sale item on Amazon, and you have no idea why you thought it would make a great gift.
Well, we all have the tendency to become the proverbial hamster in the wheel, spinning around day to day, going through the routines. It makes no difference how much money you make. If you're a feet on the street still trying to crack that quota by year's end or a CEO with a trip already planned to the Bahamas on Christmas Eve, it doesn't matter. We all seem to waste time, or just let it slip away, in different ways.
We can all remind ourselves to gear down every once in awhile and appreciate our lives a little more. Instead of checking Facebook and Twitter when you get home from work every night, you can mix it up. One night, journey down to the local market and pick up a basket of freshly picked strawberries, then motor on over to a friend or loved one and share in the delight of the sumptuous fruit. Or, on another occasion, play tourist and take in a local attraction that you always wanted to visit but could never find the time.
Another strategy is to find a comfy bench in the park one Saturday afternoon and consciously focus on what goes on around you: the joggers, the bicyclists, the dogs jumping for Frisbees, the kids (maybe your own) playing on the swing set. This way, you will develop a greater appreciation for the richness and diversity of life around you, no matter if you live in a big city or a small town. After a while, you might find this idea of active watching more enjoyable than the latest mobile game.
Life goes by so quickly. There is no need for us to push down on the accelerator and speed things up even more. When we reach the end of the journey, we don't want to realize that all we have to show for it is a ton of mileage on the speedometer 
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