Findings ways to add pleasure, softness, and ease to quotidian life is what keeps us alive. Sure the milestone moments bring grand ceremony and extraordinary celebration — but the ordinary, everyday moments are filled with a secret, subtle power to bring more wonderment and beauty to our experience. Here are five ways to invite more meaningful moments into your life:

Release from Time

Make a conscious choice to clear your calendar for 24 – 48 hours. Cut out as much as you can to cultivate an island in time that is yours alone or for you and your family. No errands, no appointments, nowhere to go and nothing to do. No television. No phone. Take a long walk, read a book, cook, rest, be. During these sweet hours you’ll settle into a different relationship with time. You may even release from the notion completely. Once you do you’ll discover how much of your daily life is not essential and can be released at anytime in order to find a softer, more sacred existence.

Be in the Moment Before You

Stop. Breathe. Notice. Pay attention to the moment in front of you. This present moment. Put all your attention on whoever, whatever is in front of you. Take 20 minutes each day to practice arriving in the present moment. Allow nothing else to enter your experience during that time. No emails, no social media, no worries about tomorrow or ruminating about yesterday. The more and more you put all of your attention on the moment before you, the more problems dissipate, concerns seem to shrink in their importance, and beautiful unexpected gifts have the space to appear.

Transform the Mundane to Magical

The only difference between throwing together dinner or whipping up a gourmet feast are the words, mood, and manner in which you approach it. When you watch your word, steady your state, and create an atmosphere of poetry in your life everything that was once mundane becomes magical. A walk to lose that extra ten pounds becomes an early morning wander to listen to the birds, feel the morning sun, and enliven the spirit. A visit to the grocery store becomes an interesting adventure in unexpected culinary delights and creations. A day of back-to-back work from home Zooms takes on a different vibration when you split it up with five minute intermissions sprinkled with hydration, treats, and mini-dance parties. You have the power to take any moment from dull to dazzling.

Think Less Routine, More Ritual

Similarly, when you think less routine, more ritual, what used to be ordinary slices of your day are now filled with a higher resonance. Mornings are especially potent once approached from this state of mind. Rather than a hurried pace of automatic gestures — coffee, shower, TV, phone, etc. — the morning becomes an oasis of calm filled with intention. Make the bed with a thoughtful, delicate touch, apply essential oil to your wrists and neck to consecrate your day, step outside for five minutes to breathe in the fresh air, make coffee/tea and breakfast with thoughts of gratitude and nourishment, eliminate all media for the first hour of waking. Now you’ve taken what was mindless and reactive and filled it with spirit. Anything in your routine can become a sacred ritual once infused with mindfulness and ease.

Make Space for the New

All four of the above lead to the ultimate way to invite meaningful moments, which is to make space for the new. Committing to making space physically, mentally, and emotionally means releasing from old habits, practices, thought patterns, and negative emotions that no longer serve you. Rather than fighting against yourself by focusing on ridding yourself of traits or behaviors, focus on new practices and welcome the unknown and unexpected. Trust that all change can only bring your highest good.

In the end, inviting meaningful moments isn’t about filling up more of your time with forced or planned events, but about slowing down, being present for the life in front of you, and embracing each moment as a gift filled with possibility, wonder, and gorgeous surprise.