A friend sent me this picture earlier this week along with a note that said he was a little late to his destination because he stopped to look at this view and just reflect for a little while. Wow!  When was the last time you did that?

I do not find any coincidence in the fact that I started reading “The In-Between – Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing” by Jeff Goins on the very same day.

An added value that Goins has offered with the launch of his new book is what he calls the “Slow Down Challenge.”  If you have been following me for a while, you know I usually do a book review post on Wednesday.  I am going to throw a little twist into that for the next week.

This will be the first of five posts following Goins Slow Down Challenge.  Here is the lineup that will take us through my next five posts:

• Day 1 – The Habit of Noticing
• Day 2 – Savoring Every Moment
• Day 3 – Focusing On What Really Matters
• Day 4 – Interruptions
• Day 5 – Gratitude

The reason I am doing this is simple.  Goins has hit the nail on the head for what I think almost everyone one of us goes through every day.  We are so consumed by that “next big thing” that we fail to enjoy the moment.  In fact, I would suggest that most of us don’t even realize that we are in the moment.  We are fixated on the destination and completely ignore the journey.

Last month I posted a few times while my son Spencer and I went on a marathon road trip that encompassed 3,700 miles in 9 days.  Now you might think that sort of schedule would go totally against what this post is about.  Not so fast my friend!

Here is why.  Every day we hit the road, we had a destination.  But during the journey, the destination was the last thing on our mind.  We stopped at viewpoints.  We stopped at road signs.  We stopped in the middle of the highway just to look at something cool or take a few pictures.  We even stopped at a closed nuclear museum and spent almost an hour just looking around on the outside.

We had no real game plan other that to figure it out along the way.  The key is this, we were intentionally noticing the things around us.  I didn’t really think about it at the time, but it was the unplanned things on that trip that will be my lasting memories.

The moose that ran across the highway going over the continental divide.  The grand canyon of Yellowstone that we almost didn’t stop at because we had never heard of it. A really cool museum that we had all to ourselves in “the middle of nowhere,” North Dakota.  Have you ever been the only ones in a museum other than the curator?

Here is the action plan from Day 1 of the Slow Down Challenge:

Spend at least 15 minutes going for a walk – around the block, around the yard, or even around the office.  As you do so, try the following:

• Look around (if you’re the praying type, ask for eyes to see).
• Take note of whatever catches your eye; concentrate on it.
• When you get back, write down what you saw.
• As you go through your day, revisit your list.  Remember what you noticed and say a quick thank-you for each item.

So my challenge for today, if you have not already guessed; “SLOW DOWN AND TAKE THE TIME TO NOTICE WHAT YOU’RE MISSING!”

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Barry Smith    8/30/13   photo courtesy of a colleague   © Building What Matters 2013