Everywhere you look right now in New York there are signs of spring, with an endless array of flowers in parks, gardens, and even the small tree enclosures along city streets.

Perhaps what stands out most for me however are the cherry trees, which this week are in full bloom.  

In Japan, cherry trees, or sakura, are symbols of the fleeting nature of life, mortality, friendship, and spiritual awakening. They bring with them a sense of renewal, hope and fresh starts.

The Lightbulb Moment for me this week is simple, but important. One does not have to wait for spring in order to have a sense of renewal. Every day is meant to be a fresh start, a new spring, and another opportunity to work at fulfilling your dreams. Each day is a chance to be a little better than you were the day before, to try a little harder, become a little happier, and discover a bit more of who you are destined to be. And, perhaps most important, it is a chance to be grateful for even more today than you were yesterday.

Life goes by so fast! Have you ever thought about something that happened in your life many years ago, and as you recall it, it seems like it just happened yesterday? That is how life works. It’s rather like the petals on a sakura. One day a tree is bursting with them, and the next week they have all fallen.

Life is meant to be enjoyed, savored, appreciated. Take advantage of its beauty, its promise, and its joy. Learn that, like the sakura, no matter how wonderful, how beautiful, or how serene something is, its joys can fade just as quickly as they have appeared, so it is important to enjoy the “right now” of everything.

If you’re like me and you’re preparing for a major concert tour that includes your debut at Carnegie Hall, you soon learn that you have to appreciate every aspect of the preparation, the study, the hard work, and the happiness these moments are bringing you. There will be other moments, other joys, other concerts. What you have right now though should be what is most important, because none of us can predict the future. We can only enjoy, as fully as possible, what is in the present, because tomorrow it will be in the past.

(Cherry blossom photo by Bryan Derballa for The New York Times.)