I’m cross training for my part in the Manitoba Marathon relay…I’m taking my bike to work these days. Ok…I drove my bicycle yesterday and today…I realize that hardly makes it a habit…but a person has gotta start somewhere, right?
On the way this morning, it was a tough slog to work. Although it was a beautiful and sunny day, there was quite a breeze…and so even in a low gear down Pembina Highway, I was givin’er hard, and was feeling it when I got to work. Going against wind was tough.
I prayed the wind would stay the same…knowing that if I was going against it on the way there, it would be pushing me home.
I went out at lunchtime to mail a letter, and was quietly delighted that the wind was still coming from the same direction.
So, at the end of the day, I get on my bike…and notice how the people at the bus stop are facing away from the wind, and how their hair is clearly being blown in the direction I will be heading. And the flags…well, the flags are being whipped briskly by the wind.
After all the work of cycling against the wind, I was thoroughly looking forward to being blown down Pembina Highway.
I found out it doesn’t work that way.
In fact, I could have sworn There. Was. No. Wind.
I kept checking the hair of passersby on the street to ensure that their hair was flying…because when I was going in the direction of the wind, I couldn’t feel it.
I tried to feel it…and I noticed I could surely feel that each pedal wasn’t a struggle as it had been in the morning against wind. But I couldn’t feel the “push” that I was hoping. It was nice not to have to feel resistance…but to tell you the truth, if I hadn’t had the against-wind-battle in the morning, I’m not sure I would have even noticed that. The recent hard pedalling in the morning was recent enough that I could notice the absence of it, and while it was nice to notice that I wasn’t pushing as hard as I had to this morning…the contrast was only from tough to “not-tough”…not from tough to flying-with-the-wind-with-no-effort easy.
And so…I sit here in Starbucks enjoying the half-price-Frappucino-happy-hour half way home from work on this beautiful warm spring day, (does it get any better?) and reflect on how often that feels like a metaphor for life.
The hard times feel so hard, and the easy times…well we enjoy them, they are pleasant and all, but it seems like pleasure in the equal and opposite direction of trial just doesn’t seem to pack the same punch.
Our brains do a whiz-bang job of remember tragedy and danger and hardship…part of the body’s desire to avoid further tragedy and danger and hardship is remembering that which hurts.
But resiliency from those tragedies, dangers and hardships happens with the joys and delights and moments of beauty in our lives…but if those don’t register on our radar…we fail to have them enrich our lives. And I think it’s a little like having the wind at our back…it truly is there, making the pedaling easier, but it may not seem as obvious as when we’re going hard against wind. Pity.
So…I’m thinking that’s one of the reasons why deliberate gratitude in the form of journals, blogs, cards of appreciation etc. are proven in research to be so effective in having a positive effect on people’s mood. It’s like noticing the flag is waving, or hair is blowing…it’s seeing the ways in which the winds of life are blowing in your direction…because without conscious effort to notice those breezes that push us along in life with their goodness, we just might miss how much they really are giving us a boost.
Take a look around today, and notice how good it is to have an excuse to be outside to mail the letter at lunch, or how good it was to laugh with your co-worker today, or how helpful Kevin on the Apple helpline was to get the wi-fi back up and running on the office iPad, and then how I knew how to fix the other iPad all by myself because he transferred his genius over to me, or how great it was to have that conversation with Melanie to figure out the dilemma with a project…oh wait…I will notice that stuff because that was my day…you spend some time looking around at your day, noticing the ways the wind was at your back.
Blessings on your day.
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