Joanna Gaines' Advice for Staying in the Present Moment: "Look Up"

As the busy holiday season approaches, you may find it harder and harder to slow down. To savor. To remember that life's best moments are ones you may not even be tuning into fully: Cupping a mug of tea in the morning as you note the changing color of the leaves; greeting your child hello at the bus stop; the smell of baked apple-cinnamon anything filling your entranceway as you get home after a long day.

How do we slow down? How do we reset? Heck, how do we even ignore the endless pinging of our cell phones for half-an-hour? Joanna Gaines is here with a powerful reminder that we can ground ourselves in the present moment—all it takes is a little effort.

In the winter issue of Magnolia Journal, Gaines writes a thoughtful letter to her readers on staying in the present:

Last January, I decided that enough was enough [with overcommitting my schedule], and I challenged myself to spend this year living in the present. To quiet the voice inside my head that tells me the good ol' days have passed me by or that the best is yet to come. To choose instead only the moment that's unfolding right in front of me. To breathe in every sight and every sound. To hold it all dearly.

I came up with this mantra of sorts that I'd whisper to myself or repeat in my head whenever I felt that invariable tug to disengage from the present. Just two simple words: Look up. And because I believe there is power in asking our body to act on our heart's behalf, no matter where I was or what task may have been in front of me, if I sensed myself drifting, I'd do my best to pause and look up.

Like everyone, Gaines admits she sometimes struggles with maintaining this ethos and not getting lost in thinking about the past or worrying about the future. It's also all too typical to put too much pressure on life's milestones whether it's planning a birthday party or worrying you'll never get married. "Milestones help us gauge our place in the world; they clue us in to how far we've come and how much growing we've got left to do. But what I've found to be far worthier is all there is to see in the in-between," writes Gaines. "In morning routines and daily commutes. And at mealtimes two or three times a day. In car rides to baseball practice and car rides home from gymnastics. In bedtime rituals that become a rhythm of three books before lights out. The promise of a sunrise and the beauty of a slow sunset." Read Gaines' full letter here.

WATCH: Joanna Gaines on Motherhood

This holiday season, take an extra beat to cradle your mug of tea and note the burnt orange leaves swaying outside your window. If you only make life about the big moments, you miss the little ones.