For as long as I can remember, my dad has been quoting John Lennon’s famous words:

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

From time to time, those words will pop into my head as I’m rushing through my day, trying to get to the next thing—and the next thing—and the next thing.

Remembering that quote always helps me to drink in my experience a little bit deeper, even if just for a moment.

One thing I’ve always thought about at some level is whether or not my dad thinks I’m doing life “the right way.”

He’s a Harvard grad, an amazing businessman, and has done a lot of things by the book. It’s worked out great for him.

Sometimes I think he looks at my “entrepreneurial-yoga retreat-don’t play by the rules lifestyle” as totally impractical and wonders what the hell I’m doing.

I’m sure a lot of you can relate.

Last night, my dad and I had a pretty epic talk.

I just flew back from spending a month in Los Angeles—going to yoga, exploring all of the healthy spots I could find, and practicing extreme self-care the whole time.

He told me that the one thing he would do differently if he could go back in time is take more time to really savor and appreciate some of his experiences while traveling.

For business, he’s traveled to a lot of incredible places. Barcelona, Beijing, the south of France, etc. He’d arrive, get things done, and book the next flight out right after his meetings.

“If I could change it,” he said, “I would have given myself an extra day to soak up my experience and really be there. I’m so glad you’re doing that. You’re going to have a really interesting life.”

One thing that my dad does now, at the end of almost every day, is take an inventory of all the good things that happened that day.

He’ll say something like: “Today was a good day. I did some great work in the yard. I had a delicious dinner. I listened to a chapter of a great audiobook. I got to talk to both of my daughters. Yeah, today was a good day.”

When it comes to savoring the moments of life, he’s way more on point than he even realizes.

Jenny Sansouci is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the publisher of HealthyCrush.com, where she writes about nutrition, health and personal development.

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Editor:  April Dawn Ricchuito

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