I think I have been taking myself a wee bit too seriously over the last few days. Despite, perhaps not being very open to myself about it, I am very outcome driven and yet I’m generally unable to appreciate or enjoy the rewards when I do achieve them. So with this 10 minute challenge, instead of just going outside and enjoying the time alone, I somehow managed to unconsciously imbue it with a great weight of expectation for… I don’t really know what… but something that was… notable, worthy, measurable?

So anyway, there I was, a few minutes into my final attempt, standing, staring, waiting for something to happen when I remembered Chris’s words from the video… SMILE. Feeling a bit silly and not expecting much, I smiled… Eureka!

From feeling a bit morose, I suddenly felt lighter. From thinking how inconsequential we are in the grand scheme of things, I acknowledged how one small change on our part can affect others and continue to ripple outwards. The simple act of smiling reinforced in me that there are two ways of looking at things and the choice of how we chose to respond and move forward is ours.

I don’t think I’ll be doing anymore early mornings outside for the moment but what I will do is take a few minutes when I wake up just to smile.

So smile.. a simple but powerful thing.

Vicki