What’s the key to getting more out of life’s moments?

For the last 30-plus years, I have been fascinated with and studied human potential, growth, and performance. What I found most compelling is how (no matter your intelligence, education or talent) we as humans can practice and learn how to be successful in all areas of our lives. I believe that opportunities to learn and grow are provided to you, and you can choose to ignore these clues or embrace them and see where they go. After reading and hearing so much about meditation over the last few years, I figured it was time to embrace this opportunity to learn. For me, it started out as a quest to help quiet the noise, calm the chatter so that I was able to be present, respond, make good decisions from the heart and build mental resilience. As a business leader, my responsibility is our company’s employees—which extends to their families and their lifestyles—counting on me to make sound business decisions every day to ensure the health of the business. At home, I want to be present with my wife and daughters so that I can be the best husband and father I can be. As an Ironman Triathlete, I want to continue to push my physical limitations and improve my performance every year. Meditation helps and continues to help me with all these roles in my life.

But meditation practice is just that: practice! Results do not happen overnight. In fact, when I first started I wasn’t even sure it was working. But after some time, I began to see small changes in the way I was seeing things and situations. I would notice the elderly couple walking hand in hand and it made me smile. I would look up and take in the beauty of the sunset or evening stars. Over time these present moments began to come more frequently: watching my daughter concentrate on her drawing, my wife smiling, noticing an employee doing a good job, making business decisions from the heart not the ego, that smell in the air just before it rains, or taking the deep breath as I waited in a long line (still working hard on this!) And when I hit one of those really low times during an Ironman triathlon, being present, acknowledging it, and knowing that around the corner, it will be different and I will enjoy that moment as well. Because of meditation I now experience more moments of being present than ever before. However, I still have such a long way to go in my meditation practice. I am excited and grateful to have Headspace on that journey with me. I believe that living a fulfilling life is stringing together as many present moments as possible, because in the end that is all we have, the present—and it is beautiful.