We all (okay, I) move at full speed ahead. I walk through an airport with a mission. I read a book with a mission. I drive to work with a mission. Get there. It’s a commute, not a drive to the beach. But something happened on a recent ride home from work that reminded me to stop getting through things to just get through them – to learn to enjoy the moment and the view…
Navigating the competitive traffic that is a hallmark on Route 95 in South Florida requires great attention. But on the way home from work the other day, after a short but intense rainstorm, I happened to look east over the ocean to see the most amazing, absolutely clear, double rainbow. If I had done what I normally do (which was to see the commute home as a rush to get off the highway) I would have missed this amazing event.
In fact I wasn’t alone. All of us on the highway slowed to admire the remarkable rainbow – each color vividly clear against the next. We could see both the beginning and the end of the rainbow. And if that wasn’t enough, an identical rainbow, equally clear, equally intense, hovered right above the first one. Amazing. Breathtaking. One of nature’s great things.
The mindset of what I write about in The Greatness Zone is to learn how to love the life we are in. That frequently means slowing things down to be present to see the great things all around us. They may be in the kind words of a person waiting in line next to you, a person who stops to let you into traffic, finding your favorite crackers are on sale this week at the food store, or getting a call from someone you care about when you least expected it.Each of these are not just events of life, they are the sprinkles on the top of life – the added little things that move life from good to great. They are put there for us to love each moment. To find little gifts along the path. What a shame if we miss them.
Some of us think life is all about the big events. Actually, the best parts of life are in the small, recurring and amazing little events that help us connect in a happier way to each moment. I am (regularly) reminded by my family that life is not a dash; instead, it is like the garden path that turns to the left, then to the right. It does this to extend your stay on the path, to see more things, to see new things. Sure, we can create a straight road and get life done – like the way I drive to and from work, get through an airport and countless other events in my life. But wouldn’t it be better to create a life that gently moves in one direction, then to another – seeing and being part of as much of life as we can?
So the rainbow reminded me that greatness is all around us – great small things to make the ordinary of life seem extraordinary. How will you slow down today and enjoy the view – and share with me what you saw when you did.
