Stop and smell the roses

One of life's most important lesson for me occurred just after Doc Harper diagnosed me as having Diabetes type 2. I immediately began many life changes, among them I began to walk, step by step.

I would walk at lunch, first 1/4 a mile, gradually that increased to several miles at lunch. Regardless of the weather.

Next I had to under go colon cancer surgery, followed by radiation and chemo therapy. Then my disabilities followed. However I  continued to walk longer distances and took many photos each walk.

What I experienced was there was so much no one driving along would ever notice. So many small things in infinite complexity, and I recorded so many of them.

Moving to Arizona, in the Sonoran desert, I continued my walking and continued to take photos of everything that caught my eye. I do so to this day.
 
I recently had a discussion with a young man who was repairing my water heater. In that discussion he remarked after graduating high school he also began walking outside of his home also taking photos. He really liked the farmland around his home, feeling it was so beautiful.

When I described I was walking each day and also taking photos, he remarked what did I find as this location was so dry and quite barren.

I responded that was not the case. Even when walking around the limited distances of Sun City West, there were also infinite things to see, each changing every day. That this land was dry and arid most of the year. There still was so much to see and photograph, always changing each day.

This was one of the most important lessons I have learned. It is not only about skies and flowers. Stopping to smell the roses is something one should do in every aspect of our lives.

If you hurry from work to rush to karate class and rush away afterwards to do other important things, again you are missing so much, You may get awarded rank, or perhaps some success at tournaments.  But without taking the time to do more there is so much you will miss.

It is the same thing at work.  If you run and just do as you are told, this is also a situation that will keep you from learning so much about what your job could be. You should observe much more about where you work, always looking at the fine details, to gain a wider perspective of what you can accomplish. It matters not if others notice, it is improving the texture of your life.
 

 

Slow down and look around,
Always learning what was previously unobserved.
Add that texture to your life.
And smell the roses.
 

 

A rose is a rose, is a rose, is a rose, is a rose.
That becomes four roses.
Anyone for a drink?      LOL