Learning to slow down?

It has been an interesting day with so many different topics of discussions. Work is my social life for the most part. As well it is a school house where I am taught many lessons I am lucky enough to experience through others.

For myself, lessons best learned are those I get to experience myself. Although there are those that it is just as nice to learn through others mistakes. Either way life is all about learning. To stop learning is to stop growing, to stop experiencing, and really there is nothing left after we stop. Each breath is new, and to figure out how to keep that in mind has been difficult lately as I have found myself caught up in the every day life, forgetting that it is everyday LIVING that I'm going for.

Had a great walk home with my youngest yesterday. We had been at the pool and then walked (about a mile) home, but on the way we found so many awesome distractions! First a stop at the fresh fruit stand. We were needing apples, and strawberries, but after a few samples we found plums, beets (along with instructions on what to do with them), and of course cucumbers. What a grand time my three year old and I had deciding what to bring home. Then back to our walk, only to find honeysuckle flowers (or weeds?) along the way. Of course we need to stop and pick a few for some of the girls my son knows. I did not have the heart to tell him that they were not going to survive the night, it was adorable to watch him plan who was going to get which flower. Then when one was lost we had to quickly find some more to replace it. Then there was a park on the way home as well. At this point I'm thinking that we will never get home to make dinner, much less to eat, but I am determined to be LIVING and not get caught up in the everyday life of droning onto the next thing! So we stop to play for 5 min along the way, really is 5 min so bad? There are no other commitments for the evening, so 5 min is really nothing, except for the incredible experience for watching my three year old run around smiling as he gets as much sliding time in before we start back on our way home again.

Once home we get into cleaning vegetables and making dinner. What a great 40 min though! It is all in our frame of mind. I just have to remember to get out of the rushing around mode and into the enjoying the living mode. Something to think about as the week progresses and I feel like I'm being pulled. Pulled back into societies view of what should be, of what success is to 'them', of what success is suppose to look like. Redefining this is hard but I've seen it done and know it is do-able! So here we go.... off on another adventure of not caring what anyone else thinks, and ENJOYING every minute of it!!

Have a great day!

Nicole