Just before midnight on the second last day of the year, Bree and I were startled by the biggest earthquake we’ve ever experienced.

Granted neither of us have ever been close to a sizeable quake. Still on this night an earthquake of 4.8 on the Richter scale with an epicenter 19kms from our home shook the foundation and made our hearts skip a beat. With our children asleep in their beds, our first instinct once we realized what was happening was to run to them and protect them.

I was quite confident that the worst was over and that immediate danger had passed but something else happened.

When something rattles your normal range of experience and shines a spotlight on what really matters and what you hope to do, be, see, feel, say going forward, clarity becomes easier.

Your priorities are shaken up and the ones that are true to who you really are rise to the top. Most of the other ones almost fade away completely. This is the place to grab onto your path, the path that will bring you as close to fulfillment as you can be.

Obviously, my family’s health, safety and happiness are paramount. Then my future, my past, my present.

This brings a huge understanding on the value of time. Time is our true currency. In many ways it is the most finite of possessions we have.

Inside of time is the Moment. This is all that really exists. What is happening RIGHT NOW.

What has already happened is just a memory, sometimes recalled differently than at other times. Sometimes forgotten entirely.

What will happen is not certain and is only anticipation. We can hope. We can fear. But it’s not real until it is happening NOW.

This is the most precious aspect of the currency of time – the present.

Here we create and live life. Here is where we make a difference. It is the chance to be your best. It is a chance to value yourself, your loved ones, the world we live in and the awe of being alive.

If we can stay here or at least, be more aware of the value of the NOW more often, we will make better choices for our future and build memories that we can be proud of.

Instead of rushing to get somewhere for some seemingly important reason, we might slow down and make the world a better place. By helping. Teaching. Praising. Caring. For ourselves and others.

Some things we would spend more time on and others we might eliminate altogether. For example, if you truly valued time and you knew you only had 10,000 hours left. How many hours would you spend complaining?

How many hours would you spend watching the news or playing Angry Birds?

How many hours would you like to spend laughing? Smiling? Sharing?

What do you want to spend the majority of those hours doing?

Think about it.  Really think about it.  Now write it down.  Picture it when you write it down.  Feel it. This is your calling.  This is your window into creating the life that will bring you inner peace.  Your acting on it is all that stands in the way.

If you’ve had clarity and you can hold onto that feeling that came with it, your motivation will persevere.  You will make the right decisions.  You will act in accordance with your true priorities.

And you will live well.

Whether it be being kinder, healthier, finishing something, starting something, quitting something, staying, leaving, playing or working, it is the succession of Moments that create the result.  If you tie many kinder moments together, you are a kinder person.  The world becomes kinder too.

As it is with being healthier.  With each further healthy choice in each present moment, we have the opportunity to become healthier.  Which again makes the world healthier.  And so on with anything one repeats consistently.

It doesn’t have to be an earthquake that shakes your foundations and gives you crystal clear view of what is important to you.  You can be moved if you prioritize a little undisturbed time to truly look inside and meditate on what makes your heart beat; what makes you want your heart to keep on beating for.

With a new year upon us, resolutions are on many people’s minds.  I don’t see why we can’t make resolutions on February 8th or September 25th? It actually doesn’t matter.  But what does matter is to make resolutions that truly matter to us.  This will feed the willpower needed to go the distance.  To make a difference.  To create real change.

It will make it easier.

More meaningful.

And it won’t be all or nothing. Slip up and quit.  It will be something that drives you to get back up after being knocked down.   To go a little longer.  To not get stuck in perfectionism but to get it done more often than not.  Striving for incremental improvements. And that’s success.

Otherwise, hold off on the resolutions.  Maybe until they are clearer.  Maybe that’ll be January 2nd.  Maybe your birthday.  Maybe when you experience an earthquake.

Balance in health, in life, comes down to feeling that balance when you are honest with yourself and follow through from that place.  Sometimes it takes seismic forces for us to find that balance.

When the ground shakes what is your top priority?

How will you spend your time this upcoming year?

Who will you be one year from today?

Wishing you good things for the next 8,760 hours, may it be the best yet!