We can be great..see how the butterfly lands when we try.

It seems at times like the self-development industry is stating the blatantly obvious. ‘Stay calm under pressure,’ ‘Be patient, kind, forgiving, accepting.’

 ‘ Make healthy choices for your body.’ ‘Think positive.’ ‘Be happy.’

If only that coffee didn’t smell so good and everyone in the family could be having a good day, on the same day, I could be perfect!

I actually don’t want to be perfect but I do want to be a good person more than I want a successful career, lots of money or my bucket list ticked off. This takes effort and I don’t always get it right.  How different would our world look if we all decided that it is actually the new ‘normal’ to choose to be kind, grateful, patient, understanding and present, to make the most of the time we have with the people we love, to embrace all the great things about each ordinary day? That is what I want for us…

Over the weekend my brother and his wife brought their two little children to visit the farm.  From the time they arrived the children embraced all this country environment had to offer. They rode bikes, horses, went on the tractor and for walks in the hills. We watch the ‘team penning’ horse-riding event in the nearby village and enjoyed dinner by a campfire at night as the full moon rose. Watching them gave me a fresh new appreciation of our life out here. Getting dirty in the outdoors is good for us! And as they were leaving my little nephew quietly followed a butterfly from one flower to the next. He picked it up carefully and placed it in the palm of his hand. Perhaps this is how precious our highest qualities are but how fleeting they can be in our busy high demanding society.

I love the idea of knowing kindness, love, patience, joy, peace and forgiveness but they don’t always come easy. Sometimes the lazy part of ourselves is too busy trying to ‘keep on keeping on’ but with great awareness, we can be great and that is when the butterfly lands..

We can be great!

(I am starting to sound like the self development industry – maybe they are onto something!)