Having had some significant losses this year made me realize that life doesn’t go on indefinitely. I’ve taken for granted that there is a long string of years ahead and if I’m not as present as I could/should be, there will still be plenty of time to make up. Being so caught up in the minutiae of everyday existence, I never truly considered that once those I cherish are gone, they will not return.

I want to avoid future regrets by learning to be more centered in the present (mindful) with appreciation for what life is offering at any given moment (reverence). However, changing ingrained thought patterns and acquiring new mental attitudes is challenging.

Having spent many years helping people change through the power of the subconscious mind, I know that any consistent practice contributes to incremental change. To that end, the easy-to-do daily practices outlined below are very effective techniques for developing more mindful reverence.

Mindfulness is a deliberate awareness of the present moment, acknowledging and accepting bodily sensations, thoughts and feeling, without judgment or reaction. With practice, we learn detachment and transcend being at the mercy of our habitual thought patterns.

Reverence is the action or condition of regarding someone or something with deep respect or sacredness. According to Gary Zukav, author of Seat of the Soul, reverence is the experience “of accepting that all Life is, in and of itself, of value.” This attitude brings to mind the Sanskrit phrase, Namaste, a reverential salutation that means “I honor the divinity within you.”