LIVING IN THE NOW The Secret to Making Each Day Your Best Patricia Jean Smithyman-Zito My own personal journey has proven to be a growing awareness of abundance. This book compiles a lifetime of ponderings which offers readers the opportunity to grow in areas of moment-by-moment awareness and self-reflection, to better live in the "now," and to grow in wisdom and grace. Ah, to be wise and aware of the abundance in life’s every moment! How different would my life have been had I been more aware? How different can your life be? Did I hear all of this wisdom in my youth? Was I simply not wise enough to grasp that abundant awareness? Or did I grow in grace and wisdom, cooperating with the Infinite to the best of my ability, and in God’s merciful time? Music has always been a central part of my life. My father’s entire family played and sang, and there was always a song being sung in our home. The Sisters of the Incarnate Word, in Cleveland, Ohio, gave my love for music a depth and breadth and height I had never experienced before. Abundant talent, deep joy, and the desire to share God’s love with everyone overflowed into original songs. Abundance as a religious woman, a teacher, a musician, composer, poet, online entrepreneur, wife, mother, and grandmother overflows into this book of musings, ponderings, poems, prayer, and songs. May abundance always flow into your “NOW.” We are companions on the journey who inspire, energize, and alter life. Abundance is for everyone and living with an attitude of abundance is really an individual choice that overflows and impacts others. Living life to the full is always right. My prayer is that everyone discovers the reverence, wonder and blessings of “living in the NOW” in the first stage of their life! Patricia Jean Smithyman-Zito