Penelope is a NY blogger who writes a personal blog at Penelope’s Oasis, where she shares beauty tips, fun relationship ideas, health and fitness advice and more.

” Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” –Robert Brault.

Sometimes we rush through life, with big plans and big goals that we spend our time trying to attain. Big dreams are great, as long as our focus on them doesn’t make us forget to notice all the wonderful things in life we tend to not appreciate. One day we may look back and wish we had spent more time playing with our children or talking to a deceased grandparent, and find that a big house or successful career don’t give the satisfaction that we thought they would when we sacrificed family time, health, and more to chase them.

What are ways to slow down and appreciate the little things in life, so you can always feel that you live a full life and have no regrets?

1. Make family time a priority. Do not let chasing career recognition or an obsessive hobby (no matter how fun or exciting it seems at the time) take away years of your life during which your children are growing up and your marriage is growing apart.

2. Make it a priority to do simple things with your family when you are spending time with them. Don’t just watch tv together, or play video games, or give them toys to occupy them. Talk to your spouse and children. Tell them things that they’ll be glad they know when you are gone one day. Teach them things. Show them how to make a great burger or things you learned in the Scouts. Build sand castles together or look for berries.

3. Enjoy hobbies that connect you to the world around you, to people and to nature. Find hobbies that require you to slow down. Fishing with your sons is a great hobby that brings you outside, with your family, close to nature, and active. It’s relaxing and exciting.

4. Reconnect to your parents and siblings, and have family reunions and get-togethers. Don’t let your old friends and family fall apart, scattered around the world. When you are older, you’ll wish you had kept in touch with people who were once very important to you, so keep those relationships strong. You will regret not ever learning how your parents met, or what the war was like when your uncle was a child. Ask them, and listen.

5. Everyday, do something that has no point. Don’t focus only on doing productive things. Sit in the sunlight, on a bench, and just watch the world around you. Notice the beautiful weather, the grass, the people walking by. This is life, and you are lucky to be part of it. Catch butterflies and let them go. Smell flowers (really). Walk through the park. Learn to live without always feeling the need to produce results.

6. Do things you enjoy and relax you. If you love reading the morning paper and sipping coffee, but feel it doesn’t fit into your fast-paced life anymore, change your schedule. You’ll feel like you burned through your life like a match if you rush through it and never just relax and enjoy yourself. If you enjoy jogging, make sure your schedule isn’t so tight you can’t do this. Make room to enjoy the life you are lucky to have, and enjoy things you have been pushing aside or overlooking.

7. Know your priorities, and keep them straight. Everyone says family comes first, but if you barely see them because you are always working or travelling or shopping, they really aren’t a priority. If you know what your priorities are, and keep them priorities, it makes like simple. When your boss asks you to leave your family for a year for a promotion, since family is #1 and work is #3, the choice is easy. No. Having your priorities straight makes it easy to say no to friends who impose on you, tasks that risk your health, and anything that tries to take your focus away from what matters most. It makes it easy to enjoy your life and appreciate what matters when you show everyone what matters to you.

Thank you to Penelope for providing our readers some wonderful inspiration to take a step back and enjoy life.