Is your Christmas present shopping done yet? No? Me neither! If you are still looking for clever and stylish presents for the women in your life, I will share with you the results of my research of the best ideas to give to Mom, grandma, to sisters, aunts and cousins alike.

The first idea for a gift that will be appreciated and welcomed by 100% of females is a gift of flowers, plants or a gift basket. There are so many options and variations for the perfect custom Christmas gift basket that you can easily and quickly buy online or on the phone for all the women in your life.

For me, I love to send Christmas centerpieces especially when I know the person, such as my mom, loves to entertain and will proudly display her centerpiece during the whole Christmas season. Centerpieces can last from 1 to 3 weeks! So can Christmas plants…

A poinsettia is the classic Christmas plant of course but did you see what your local florist can do in the way of twisting the tradition to include candy cane poinsettias, burgundy sparkly poinsettias in arrangements with white chrysanthemum, frosty branches, pine cones, berries and big bows.

All I’m saying is that you can’t get florist quality and style in a large department store. And for the person who doesn’t like fresh flowers (is that possible?) or for the allergic woman in your life, just get her a gift basket. There are as many gift basket ideas as there are stars in the sky….ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but you get the picture….

From fruit baskets, gourmet baskets, tea & coffee baskets, chocolate baskets, fruit & cracker baskets to pamper me please baskets, lavender and vanilla beauty product baskets and chef’s baskets, the possibilities are endless… You can order flowers, plants and gift baskets online easily and get your order delivered in the next few days in the city of your choice. Of course, if you are rushed for time and like visiting local businesses personally, you can also order these items at your local flower shop.

The other obvious gift idea for the special woman in your life, is jewelry. What woman wouldn’t like a new pair of earrings, a necklace or a bracelet? If this is a special year and you want to get a gift that will be treasured daily for years to come, get your Mom, your grandma or your sister a birthstone ring. Just determine if she wears gold or silver and order a precious keepsake customized to her birth month.

Finally, for the book lover, the reader in your life, the ideal gift is an e-reader. This is a perfect gadget for the woman in your life who likes to keep up with the times, who travels or who just plain old loves reading. I was always thinking it was better to have paper books until this past summer. Don’t get me wrong…I still love the feel, the smell and the sensations that come from devouring a new book!

Just before my trip to Nashville this year my whole book bag got soaked before leaving (I won’t go into the details, let’s just say it involved a tap dripping…) Anyways, let’s just say I don’t have the problem of bloated and discolored books anymore nor will I have the problem of lugging heavy books now that I have an e-reader. If the women in your life already has one, you can get them a gift certificate for buying more books, if not, get them an e-reader. They are getting very affordable now and go from simple and inexpensive to high tech and inexpensive so it’s a win win situation.

There are limitless ways in which we can do things. Two people may set out to achieve similar goals, and both achieve them, but one can take longer than the other. However, the one who achieved the goals faster, was constantly stressed and made people around him stressed and unhappy as well. On the other hand, the person who took longer was always at peace and made people around him happy. Which one was more successful? It could have also been that the one who made people happy also reached the goals faster. The difference is that one put more importance on the value of the present moment while the other put more value on the final outcome.

How do we reconcile achieving the desired outcome when it may appear to be impossible to be overly worried about other people’s interest if you are to achieve the desired results? This is a question that hopefully more people would ask themselves before embarking on achieving a goal.

Finding balance through the present moment

We are conditioned to think that our results solely depend on get things done without much consideration to the manner in which we do it. We place primary importance on the desired outcome and forget about the quality to each moment as we do the tasks that are necessary to reaching the goal.

Learning to place the greatest value on the quality of the present moment leads to balanced decisions and higher quality action. By placing your focus primarily on the present moment we recognize the value of “Being.” When we understand that “Being” in a state of already feeling successful produces high quality success, it is much easier to shift the focus. We begin to understand the power of living in harmony with our environment while we perform our work. Stress and worry disappear and clear thinking takes over. Production goes smoother and even quicker and things flow with ease. Nothing is forced.

Practice living in the now and know that by accessing the power of now, you can enjoy even more success than ever before.

Eckhart Tolle became famous with the help of Oprah Winfrey. He has best-selling books about his teachings about being happy by being in the present moment. His teachings have become very popular. WebMD.com has a recent article called Tips to Feel Better All Day. The tips include getting sunlight during the day (no mention of sunscreen or vitamin D), set yourself up for good sleep, eat “feel-good” foods like “fresh vegetables, fruits, and beans, and whole grains instead of refined or processed foods,” stay positive, make a spiritual connection and be around people.

One other tip that it has is “stay focused on the present moment.” It says “A practice called mindfulness can help you reduce the clutter by keeping your focus on the present moment.” Mindfulness does not mean being full of mind. It is another way of saying that you are in the present. But these descriptions are an attempt to describe something that is indescribable. It can be confusing when trying to figure it out.

A person could say how can they not be in the present since they do not have a time machine where they can travel into the future or the past. Eckhart Tolle uses this idea or concept to point to an experience that he had. This experience can be described as heaven or extreme peace and happiness. When you have an experience like this then you are not spending time thinking about past and future. But when thinking about the past or future, people are not usually aware of it since they do not have anything to compare it to. A person can think about being in the present but that is different than what Eckhart Tolle is talking about.

Some people have read his books and were very inspired by them. There was a hope from reading his book that in the future, they can be happier than they are now. But then they became disappointed when that does not manifest. Usually a teacher or coach will tell his students to do what he did when he was being taught. But Eckhart Tolle cannot do this since he did not have a teacher about this subject. He learned it from going through a great deal of depression.

After he leaned about this on his own, he learned about Buddhism to see how Buddhists taught about this to others. So he does not know how to get others to get where he got. Walking around saying to yourself “I will be in the present moment” will not help you. It is just thinking. So I feel that a better way to refer to being in the present moment is to say that you are trying to be deeper in the present moment.

People will think that they are in the present moment but not feel very happy. So instead of saying that are not in the present moment, you can say that they need to go deeper in the present moment to feel happier. Of course to do this someone should take up a particular practice that helps them to be deeper in the present moment.

Two practices that do help with this are yoga and martial arts. In fact in some Buddhist temples in China, they practice martial arts. For a more in depth view of being in the present moment to be happy, see Happiness: Being in the Present Moment. It has quotes about this from Buddha, Eckhart Tolle, psychologist Abraham Maslow and Positive Psychology.