I didn’t get out for my morning walk until 4:20 this afternoon. When I did finally get there I had a lot of anxious thoughts swirling around in my brain and a lot of nervous energy I wanted to walk off. I got onto the path and Dottie immediately ran off to do her first of what would likely be 10,000 piddles. I let the flexi-lead stretch out and walked slowly past where she was doing her business.

An older gentleman approached me on the path and stopped and said “You need to slow down for a minute there.” I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, so I asked him, he said “well, your dog wants you to stop so she can do her thing.” I laughed and said that she would be doing her thing every 10 feet down the path, but that yes – he was right. I should slow down.

I actually outright stopped for a minute and let Dottie sniff around while I looked at the river and took a few deep breaths. Wasn’t the reason I was here to slow myself down and reground my self and relax? So, why was I rushing?

When Jenna was little I used to take her in her stroller along on my walks with Dottie. Jenna would make me stop at every garden and smell all the flowers. Sometimes it would drive me nuts because I just wanted to walk and have quiet and think. But part of me knew she was spot on – that we needed to slow down and smell all the flowers that we passed.

This man pointed the same thing out to me again today. Slow down, don’t rush things, let them unfold.

I decided to spend the rest of my walk listing all the things I am thankful for. I let that dog sniff and smell and poke around and I counted blessings. My heart felt so much lighter and happier when I was done.

In my list of gratitude was the good fortune of running into that man on the path who helped focus me on the reason why I was there.

I needed to slow down for a minute….