Day 2,998

Growth:

Remember to take pictures – lots of pictures! The key is in capturing a brief moment to bring back all the memories afterwards, but not in a way that distracts from the moment. 

This picture from 12 years ago brought back soooo many memories from my night of playing with Legos with Gavin! We had a BLAST!!! While the pic took about 5-10 seconds to take in total the smiles it has created were well worth the investment in time.

Don’t miss life by looking through a camera, but remember life by occasionally snapping a future memory dividend.

Appreciation:

Where to go with appreciation today? There have been a handful of different directions to go and my mind has already started about four different posts but none of them have felt right. So now what? Go with my gut.

This morning I woke up feeling pretty stiff and sore from the workouts yesterday. It was sooooo tempting to just shut off my alarm and go back to sleep. Instead I got up, got on my bike, and got a nice little biking session in. Nothing crazy, but just enough to get a sweat going while loosening up my legs and body. As I think about it, the rest of my day was built on that foundation, the decision to get out of bed. My body felt better, my head was in the right place, and the rest of the day was improved as a result of that exercise.

Why did I get up? Because future 90 year old me wants to be hiking whenever and wherever he’d like. Present me has to keep getting his butt up and moving in order to let 90yo Mike reach his dreams. Here’s to dreaming big and making short term decisions based on long term goals!

Presence:

For whatever reason I happened to notice a recommendation that Apple Music put in the middle of my app yesterday – Instrumental Motivation Boost Soundtracks. What really got me this morning was the sensation of driving in the early morning with my moon roof open to allow the cool fresh air in while I listened to Time by Hans Zimmer from the Inception soundtrack (click here to view a live performance of the song).

The song is hauntingly mesmerizing and deeply moving. As I drove I just soaked up all my surroundings, gave thanks to be in that moment, and savored the moment. It was beautiful.

Thanks!!!