In coaching I often use the expression, be your best self. Oprah teaches us that our goal is to work toward living our best life. This Saturday morning I had what we call an “aha moment.” I am living my best life right now.

I am not at my ideal weight at the moment. There is more clutter in my home than I want. My health and energy is not exactly where I want it to be. My siblings and I are challenged by end of life issues for both of our parents. I could continue with this list of what’s not right for many more sentences.

And what I recognize is I love my life. My days are full of family, friends, colleagues, clients and activities that I have chosen. Yes, I want to lose the weight, make myself clean out the rooms in my house and know what is coming next for my parents.

And on when I review this past week, I was mostly grounded and present. My kids had many fun days, learning and playing at their elementary schools, so I feel like my “mom responsibilities” got handled. I had a full week of interesting coaching work and the promise of new interesting projects.

I finished a corporate two day workshop at noon on Friday. Often when I finish a one day corporate workshop, I am cooked physically and mentally and like to retreat to time by myself to recover. Yet instead of heading back to the office to catch up on the email messages that had collected while I was off site for the workshop, I gave myself the treat of meeting two good friends for a birthday lunch and giving myself some time off for the afternoon.

I had invited another family for dinner earlier in the week to celebrate the end of week. Instead of picking up the gourmet pizzas and salad I had planned to serve as a last minute dinner, I stopped to pick up for some fresh ingredients and spent the next few hours pulling together a nice, homemade meal. I find the cooking grounds me and allows me to relax without a big push to get something big done. I set a simple, beautiful table with spring flowers and candles. Then the coach in me couldn’t help myself. I asked everyone at the table to answer the question, “What is one thing you are thankful from this week?” After some giggles from the younger ones and our friends who are not used to my coach-like table questions, everyone shared delightful stories of what gave them pleasure this week.

My “ aha moment” came the Saturday morning after the dinner. I woke very tired with the thought of many different things I could do on Saturday. I did a quick workout on the treadmill and then when getting ready to head out for errands, it hit me. THIS IS MY BEST LIFE. I will always want something more AND what I have right now is perfect. My goal is to remember this thought the next time I feel overwhelmed. I have created my ideal life by what I have put on my plate!