Often. there are days that exist that I have so many thoughts and reflections, it is impossible to put them into words, impossible to formulate how to get it just right in stating how you are feelings.

Oddly, these are the same days that I am overwhelmed with driver after driver not using their turn signal (ESP in driving must be a thing), letting people in front of you without ever a thank you or acknowledgement wave, the days I get calls to help others with tasks that they easily can find out in a few minutes (we’ve all had those) – and of course the just “Murphy’s Law” events that manage to pile up one after one after one.

I have taken to just dropping everything, leaving it all behind, and piling the canines into the vehicle and heading to the beach. I have done this for the last four days and see the need to do so for the next five easily. During these great escapes that are badly needed – I have come to realize so many things and just let the things I needed to say settle down into some brief simplicties.

So many individuals miss the simple things in life like simply hearing the silence of the wind, the trees, the birds, the wind, the water, the tide, and so many very specific sounds due to the noise they continue to make themselves, and round themselves.

So many individuals miss the simple things in life like simply hearing the silence of the wind, the trees, the birds, the wind, the water, the tide, and so many very specific sounds due to the noise they continue to make themselves, and round themselves.

So many individuals miss the simple things in life like simply hearing the silence of the wind, the trees, the birds, the wind, the water, the tide, and so many very specific sounds due to the noise they continue to make themselves, and round themselves. I see them missing it before they even realize the did. Yet they do not even realize what they are missing at all.

The individuals that ride my back bumper pushing me to hurry, hurry, hurry, (metaphorically and in reality) could indeed make you do that very thing, or you can just let those actions roll over you and forcefully ride over you and refuse to let your time be hijacked into the faster timezone that you care to be in, so you will not miss the details that many others miss.

I see this reflected in the scramble to work work work tirelessly for that almighty dollar, and the stress that the economy has put on families to make that priority one. From experience of someone who worked 2- 4 jobs at the same time from high school easily into my 40’s, I do not remember a single moment of the weeks I tried to achieve my highest number of hours for that almighty dollar.

Yet, I still remember some of the quietest, most still moments where I just observed, listened, and took ion what was happening around me, letting me work put my own pace and resisting against the tide of a pace that seemed to catch everyone up in a pace that was expected, and never allowed for reflection, internal peace, a sense of satisfaction.

I find myself more and more willing to build in moments of the day, be it a 20 to 40 minute break, to mornings, evenings, weekend afternoons – that allow nothing but time for me to let me thoughts settle to a lower point – where I can see, reflect on, and feel them – opposed to caught up in a speed race of a moment a minute and then over.

I am grateful for a period in my life where I was able to realize that what was much more important than the number of things I could check off a never ending to do list, was the value of slowly and carefully putting tasks in front of me that I wanted needed, and along the way helping others see a better me in letting my interests also become part of their interests.

There, as I am finding out, is always going to be time to fill in all the time in a day with things that are deemed valuable now, the question is how valuable will those tasks be when I look back 10 years later – and often I am finding in some of those instances, not enough to want me to miss the opportunity I have sitting right in front of me.

If we do not stop to take that picture we thing might be a great shot, take the time to listen to someone when they have something important on their mind, say hello to the person next to you just because, or simply allow yourself to get to know more about what makes you, yourself happy, there is a good chance there are even limited chances to do so in the future as that mentality becomes your new “normal.”

There are so many no guarantees that come with short sighted vision and goals, and often with long sighted vision and goals, space is created to allow those moments of reflection, meditation, and just space to take a breath in and have a chance to enjoy the moment, rather than simply be able to reflect on it in the past. The best opportunities are the latter, when you discover you have the desire to carve out more permanent moments and events that you can truly can look back on and realize the value of the moments that are happening.