As millions of people embark on their new year resolution journey, the importance of health becomes all too obvious. We take it for granted on a moment by moment basis, but it truly is one of the pillars of our existence (the others being time, and love/happiness). Would you trade confinement to a wheelchair for the rest of your life for a billion dollars?

My half year goals both revolve around my health. It’s so easy to forget what it’s like to feel good, or crappy for that matter. We adjust to the status quo, our recent health state. When we get injured or sick, we remember how much it sucks. Similarly, when we clean up our diet and increase our exercise, it can be hard to believe how we dealt with feeling so poorly, so stark is the contrast of feeling good.

Luckily the antidote to this complacency of sensation lies in the same practice that builds empathy: gratitude. Acknowledgement of the present. If we can reach presence together, the universe is ours to freely explore.