The entire month of July, nature surrounded me whether I wanted it or not. It made me look deeper and closer. It made me embrace everything that it has to offer - mosquitos, dry dirt, sap, wild flowers, lakes, rocks…. I will admit that some of it wasn’t that easy to embrace, like mosquitos. However, in overall, the nature re-trained me to go with the flow.

I took many wrong turns in long and hot hikes. And yet, in all of them, I managed to get back on track, even with complaining kids and a whining dog. In each of those hikes, we created a new adventure and ended it with a big smile. I can’t help but think about my life like those hikes. Each “wrong” turn is a new addition to the overall adventure. It is unknown what is at that turn but once I leave myself to the flow, there is a junction back to the main path. To me, leaving myself to the flow, does not mean just following the wind. It means, paying attention to everything around me to tell me the story or show me the path. It could be the flowers around or someone else’s foot steps or the view to the end point. And as I pay attention to everything around, that’s when the flow appears and I get to enjoy the unintentional turn. Again, just like my life…

Given that nature was everything about July, it was also one of my chosen themes for the Train and Smile weeks. Bringing a piece of nature to our workout was definitely great. I challenged my participants to go out and find a rock that is about an ostrich egg size. That way, there is also the challenge of paying attention. I bring that same challenge to YOU. Whether you did the class with me or not, how about you go out and find a rock to complete the below workout?

Here is my high five for you for all of your “wrong” turns (not so wrong) that lead you back to your path!