“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
— Douglas Adams
We’ve all heard advice about the importance of enjoying the little things in life, often expressed as “taking time to smell the roses.”
But what does that mean exactly? And what does it have to do with living a meaningful life?
Let’s take a look.
Roses On Your Spiritual Path
The more you stop and smell the roses the more you learn to appreciate what is right in front of you right now.
And according to research, appreciation can make “a significant unique contribution to life satisfaction [even when] controlling for demographic variables … and gratitude.”
Truly enjoying the roses may also remind you to appreciate all of your other blessings, as well.
What happens when you don’t take time for appreciation? When you decide you’re too busy, or you feel like you have more important things to think about?
Thoughts like that could be a sign you are lost in never ending distractions with little hope of return without guidance.
Fortunately, guidance is available from your inner navigation system, your heart.
When you listen with an open mind and act accordingly you will be on track to a more meaningful life in spite of the distractions.
Heartfelt Navigation
Imagine you are walking to an appointment on a beautiful spring day.
Your mind isn’t on the walk, but rather is busy preparing for your appointment or another challenge you face later in the day.
Suddenly, though, you feel an urge to slow down and enjoy the spring blooms. You look around and notice the daffodils, crocuses, hydrangeas and flowering fruit trees surrounding you.
The beauty overwhelms you, bringing back powerful memories of springs past. You feel energized and more awake, filled with the urge to stay a while, maybe sit on a nearby bench and just drink it in.
But your mind interrupts you, telling you, “There isn’t enough time. In fact,” it continues, "If you stop you might miss your appointment,” even though you are running early.
Or, it raises your anxiety even higher suggesting “you may even lose your job.”
So you glance briefly at the blooms and regretfully hurry on, full of anxiety and missing the chance for genuine appreciation of the beauty around you.
There’s nothing wrong with listening to your mind’s messages. One of them could save your life sometime or provide the logic you need to solve a difficult problem.
But there’s no reason to restrict yourself to your mind’s logical, linear way of looking at things.
After all, when you mostly follow your mind, rarely admitting input from your heart, your life becomes all about logic and efficiency.
And that means you will rarely experience the joy and fulfillment that come with taking time for appreciation.
How would your life change if you decided to observe your world moment by moment according to the guidance of both your heart and your mind?
Maybe you can’t afford to be late, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stop long enough to take a deep breath and enjoy the roses.
Adding your heart’s wisdom to your mind’s advice also adds feelings like compassion and empathy to your decision making. You will be more on track with your values, your decisions a more authentic reflection of who you are.
Heart centered guidance may bring more curves and less certainty, but your mind will be there to help you find the best way through it all.
It may remind you to leave earlier or help you find a faster, more efficient way to your destination giving you the extra time you need.
Together your mind and heart can help you live a life of greater fulfillment by helping you see things in a new way.
And isn’t that what you really want?
What If It’s the Journey?
It’s popular to say that your journey is more important than your destination. But perhaps a more heartfelt way to view this wisdom is to recognize that your journey is, in fact, your destination.
Maybe an enlightened life is neither about arriving somewhere, nor about achieving a state of illumination with deep, cosmic understanding.
It may instead be about mastering the skill of being present, not just for a few moments, but all of the time.
Why not enjoy more of your walk or drive to work by appreciating the beauty even if you don’t stop?
And when you arrive at your destination why not enjoy being fully present in your meeting?
Would you not feel more content and less anxious?
Look to the contentment, the lack of anxiety, of the roses as an example.
After all, nature doesn’t experience anxiety.
Trees don’t worry about squirrels climbing them or birds sitting and pooping on them. Streams don’t get anxious as the rapids approach.
It’s humans that worry.
Will Rogers said, “I know worrying works because none of the stuff I worried about ever happened.”
Yet many people spend more time in worry than in appreciation.
Stop right now and take a few minutes to anchor yourself in the present.
What are you aware of right now?
Can you expand your awareness to include even more sights, sounds, tastes and smells?
Do you feel your awareness expanding letting you appreciate the roses, the people, or the meetings you may have previously missed because you were thinking about something else?
Notice how the world shifts when you change how you view it.
Then recognize that the destination you yearn for is right here, right now revealing itself moment by moment through your appreciation of what’s in front of you, whatever that happens to be.