James Dean once said ‘Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.’ Perhaps that is a tad melodramatic and romantic in its extremity, however the essential point is very real.

Think for a moment if one day you woke up and overnight, a miracle had taken place that would have given you all the time you wanted, what would you choose to do with it? How much time would you really need? Two hours? Three weeks? Six months? Ten years? And if you had that time, what would you do with it? Climb Mount Everest, travel the world or simply spend more time reading book?

Do you really need that time or is there something you could be doing now, this very moment, to move you forward to where you want to be in your life? Is it a fact that you need more time or is it your perception? It is perhaps a sad, yet understandable truth that people sometimes wait for a moment of tragedy before they are spurred into action to do something they have always dreamed of doing. What makes us wait until a moment of tragedy happens to feel like we need to truly live our lives? What is holding us back from living now? If it’s important enough to do when a life-changing situation comes to pass such as somebody being taken seriously ill, divorce or losing a business, is it not as important now?

If someone were to ask you when the best time of your life was, when would you say? Last month, last year or five years ago perhaps? Would you consider saying now? Would you be able to say now? And if you couldn’t say now, what could you do to make now the best time of your life?

I recently went to a fantastic open-mike night where people came along to sing their favourite songs accompanied by a pianist. Mostly show tunes, of which I must admit I am not generally a fan, however this evening, they took on a completely different angle for me as people were coming up to sing, many for the first time, in front of a live audience.

Perhaps this is something they had always wanted to do. Perhaps it is something, which has always terrified them. Perhaps by day, they are teachers, accountants or carpenters, but by night and especially this evening, it struck me that they were not only singing, but also revealing a little more of their very souls with every note. The receptive audience no doubt helped, yet fundamentally, they were facing their fears and their own self-doubt to bite the bullet and say ‘I’m going to do this!’.So all in all, an incredibly enlightening and inspiring evening all round!

Eleanor Roosevelt said: ‘The future is literally in our hands to mould as we like. But we cannot wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is now.’ Though I must admit, I prefer the profound, ancient truth of one of my favourite bands Moloko, who said – ‘Give yourself unto the moment. The time is now.’ So, go out and give yourself unto the moment. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Live the life of your dreams. The time really is now!