Parenthood has taught me many lessons, one at least, appears to have stuck.

If you have the opportunity slow down and take in your surroundings.

While Danny and I were at the Bloedel Conservatory I had the urge to move quickly and get on to our next outing. Instead of being fully present and focusing on the moment I was already moving onto the next thing.

It twigged when I was sitting with Danny, seen in the picture above. We had been sitting for only a minute and I thought, “ok, next thing, let’s go.” Then it dawned on me, Danny’s visual sensory system was alive – he was seeing these things for the first time and was in total awe. I checked my thought and decided to wait until Danny was ready to move on. It was a great decision. We sat for almost twenty minutes watching birds dance, inspecting the intricacies and diversity of trees and soaking in the sounds and smells of the “jungle”. I have been to the conservatory many times but this was the first time I reflected on what I was actually seeing, hearing, and smelling. I was sitting in Vancouver but my surroundings could actually be found in unique places all over the globe – this may seem obvious but I had never really appreciated it before. When we remember how incredible the world is, it has a way of tempering negative thoughts and centring our positivity.

Danny’s wonderment reminded me how special our planet is.  Unless we take the time to soak it in, it easily passes us by.

What are you doing this week to soak in your surroundings? Vancouver has lots of special places – even its tree lined streets:)

Thanks for reading.

Dave

ps. checkout this read on vacations and this oldie but a goodie on busyness