I keep my focus, as do many, too often on the destination and not the journey. A few years back, while living in Houston and heading back from a doctor’s appointment, I happened upon a public garden near the Texas Medical Center. It was simply gorgeous and was one of those moments that made me stop in my tracks. I had much more to accomplish that day but I realized the biggest goal of the day was to wander in wonder. I needed to slow down and pay attention to my steps and take in the surrounding. I stayed around an hour but I was so refreshed you would have thought I had spent a week there. Usually, I find, it doesn’t take moving mountains and accomplishing endless goals to give me a feeling of satisfaction, of completion. I just have to slow down, stop, take a deep breath, and look at whatever beauty is surrounding me in the moment. Not only do I feel complete, I feel grounded, accomplished, and renewed to continue on my journey.

What grounds you? What reminds you to stop and take in your steps?

“We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction may be waiting at the end of our endurance and effort, there is great and irreplaceable aliveness in the steps along the way.”

Mark Nepo