Awaken Her

Have you ever looked back at a day and realized you can’t remember most of it?

You woke up, rushed through your routine, powered through work, and collapsed into bed – only to repeat it all again. You were busy, but you didn’t feel alive.

Somewhere in all the doing, the being got lost.

This isn’t just about burnout. It’s about disconnection.

But the good news is: you can change the quality of your life – starting with the way you experience your moments.

Why Do Moments Matter?

A meaningful life isn’t built from massive achievements – it’s built from ordinary moments that feel full. Drinking a cup of tea slowly. Noticing your breath. Watching the sky change color at sunset.

When we’re present, when we savor, when we appreciate what’s here – we give our soul space to breathe.

Science agrees. In fact, researchers have found that being present, practicing gratitude, and intentionally savoring small joys are powerful ways to experience more happiness, resilience, and inner peace.

Let’s explore how to make everyday moments more meaningful, using proven psychological and neurological research.

Be Where Your Feet Are: The Power of Presence

“A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.”

– Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010

Mindfulness – the act of being fully present with what’s happening right now – is one of the strongest predictors of happiness.

In a study by Harvard psychologists Killingsworth and Gilbert, researchers found that people spend almost 47% of their day mentally somewhere else – thinking about the past, worrying about the future, or daydreaming. And here’s the surprising part: people were less happy when their minds wandered, even if what they were thinking about was pleasant (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010).

Another study by Brown & Ryan (2003) found that people who were more mindful (meaning they were better at paying attention to the present moment) experienced significantly more positive emotions and lower stress throughout their day.

Translation? When we anchor ourselves in the moment – even the “boring” ones – we actually feel better.

Try this: Next time you’re making tea, pause. Feel the warmth of the cup. Inhale the steam. Let it be more than a task. Let it be a moment. Engaging your senses is one of the simplest ways to quiet the mind and let the present moment take center stage.

Turn Routine into Ritual: The Joy of Savoring

You brush your teeth. You walk to your car. You eat your lunch.

These are ordinary things. But what if they could become extraordinary, just by the way you experience them?

“Savoring” is the psychological act of fully noticing and amplifying the positive aspects of a moment. It’s what happens when you stretch out a good feeling, like lingering in the warmth of your blanket before you rise or smiling longer after a compliment.

Researchers Kiken et al. (2017) found that savoring – especially when combined with mindfulness – boosts daily joy and long-term well-being. And in a 2022 study, participants who were asked to intentionally savor a small positive experience after a stressful moment showed a significant increase in positive emotion, compared to those who didn’t (Kilbert et al., 2022).

Even your brain responds to savoring. Neuroimaging shows that when you stay with a good feeling (like recalling a happy memory or enjoying a sensory moment), rewards centers in the brain light up and stay active longer, leading to longer lasting happiness (Heller et al., 2012; Speer et al., 2014).

Try this: Pick one ordinary task today – maybe just washing your face. Slow down. Pay attention to the sensations your feelings and notice something positive. For example, when you’re washing your face you may notice and enjoy the smell of the cleanser, or the feeling of cleaning off your skin after a long day. Let your mind linger in those little details as you go about these ordinary tasks.

Name What’s Good: The Power of Gratitude

We all know we should be more grateful. But did you know that just writing down three good things a day can actually rewire your brain?

In a study by Emmons & McCullough (2003), participants who kept a daily gratitude journal felt more optimistic, had more energy, and even slept better than those who wrote about daily hassles.

More recently, a meta-analysis of 60+ studies found that gratitude practices not only improved mood, but also significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression (Diniz et al., 2023). Even the brain responds: people who practice gratitude show more activity in the prefrontal cortex – the area associated with emotional regulation, empathy, and prosocial behavior (Karns et al., 2017).

Gratitude helps you see what’s already working, what’s already beautiful – and in doing so, it makes life feel more meaningful.

Try this: Every evening, write down one moment you’re grateful for. It doesn’t have to be deep. It could be the way the sunlight hit your floor. Or the sound of someone’s laughter. The moment matters because you noticed it.

Meaning Comes from Intention

So much of life passes us by not because we’re too busy, but because we’re not intentional. We move through our days automatically – scrolling, checking off to-do lists, going through the motions. But meaning doesn’t just happen on its own. It’s created – moment by moment – through the energy we bring to the smallest of things.

Intention is the quiet, invisible force that transforms an action into a ritual, a pause into a practice, a moment into something sacred. When you eat with intention a meal becomes nourishment. When you listen with intention, a conversation becomes connection. When you breathe with intention, your body remembers safety.

And the beautiful thing? Intention doesn’t require time or perfection. It requires presence and choice. You don’t need to change what you’re doing – just the way you’re doing it.

Research suggests that when we attach intentionally and emotional significance to an act – no matter how routine – it creates stronger neural pathways associated with meaning and reward. In other words, how you frame a moment determines how deeply your brain and heart will register it.

Try this: Before starting your day, take one minute to set an intention. It could be a word, a feeling, or a quality – like “peace,” “gratitude,” or “openness.” Write it on a sticky note or whisper it to yourself as you breathe deeply. Then as you move throughout the day, return to it. Let it guide how you respond, how you slow down, how you experience the world. You’ll be surprised how much more alive your moment begin to feel.

Final Thoughts: A Soulful Life Is a Present Life

We think meaning is something we’ll find someday – after we achieve more, heal more, fix more. But meaning isn’t a distant mountain. It’s the way the wind touches your skin. It’s how you breathe through a hard moment. It’s the choice to feel joy even when the word says rush.

You don’t need a new life.

You just need a new way of living in it.

So today, let this be your invitation: Slow down. Look up. Say thank you. Make a moment matter.

That’s where the soul lives.

With love, Your Wellness Sister

Cited Research

• Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848.
• Diniz, G. et al. (2023). The effects of gratitude interventions: systematic review and meta-analysis. Einstein (São Paulo), 21, eRW0371.
• Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389.
• Heller, A. S. et al. (2013). Sustained striatal activity predicts eudaimonic well-being and cortisol output. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2191–2200.
• Karns, C. M., Moore, W. E., & Mayr, U. (2017). The cultivation of pure altruism via gratitude: A functional MRI study of change with gratitude practice. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 599.
• Kiken, L. G., Lundberg, K. B., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2017). Being present and enjoying it: Mindfulness and savoring the moment are distinct, interactive predictors of positive emotions. Mindfulness, 8(6), 1280–1290.
• Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932.
• Klibert, J. J. et al. (2022). Savoring interventions increase positive emotions after a social-evaluative hassle. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 791040.
• Speer, M. E., Bhanji, J. P., & Delgado, M. R. (2014). Savoring the past: Positive memories evoke value representations in the striatum. Neuron, 84(4), 847–856.