One of those dreams was to ride my bike at sunrise near a body of water every day, and that was the dream that I starting living right away.
I quickly discovered, however, that, as a natural night owl, it was more challenging than I thought it would be to get up every morning at the crack of dawn.
To help me remember how beautiful the sunrises were, and how worth it the effort it is, I started taking a picture every morning. And, since I had no place else to put them, I started posting them on Facebook.
Very quickly, my friends and acquaintances began to look forward to them, which provided even more motivation for me to get out of bed each morning.
More than that, though--I began to notice an interesting phenomenon: I naturally started "looking for the picture." My bike ride became an opportunity for me to focus my mind only on what was lovely, pretty, interesting, noteworthy. Everything else--trash, dirt, graffiti--simply disappeared from my consciousness.
This morning's picture was a perfect example. Along a portion of the trail grew a vine, winding gently up a wrought iron fence. I took this picture and captured the beauty despite the dirty trail, the garbage from the back a hotel, and the gray, cloud-filled sky:
What interested me was a comment from one of my friends. She wrote, "Very pretty. Makes me miss living up there."
Fascinating. What she doesn't realize is that she could be "looking for the pretty" in whatever part of the country she is in.
This, of course, is exactly what we teach in Step 4 of SIYID: noticing and rejoicing in the here and now.
Because that's how all good things come to us.
Friend me on Facebook and see my sunrise pictures every day: http://www.facebook.com/margie.remmers
