what's working

i just spent longer than i want to admit on writing a post (or ranting, as the case may be). i got half way through it and heard the words a friend of mine said the other day. he said that for the past few years he's been focusing in what's working in his life instead of what he needs to work on/fix.

i've heard the same concept in different words a million times. i've heard "turn negatives into positives", etc. , etc. but there was something about the way he said it. there was a simplicity and a clarity. we hear it when we hear it, ya know?

so i thought of that i was writing and it made me not want to publish the rant about the jerk who did this on the pch and the knucklehead who did that. sure, they were funny anecdotes and they were things that bothered me at the time, but in the end ... those things were not my ride.

what made my ride was so much more. and so much better.

it was beautiful out today (albeit a bit hot for my taste). i was doing my last long ride before napa. i rode along the pch. i was committed to working hard and making it count. i did. i love that, when i KNOW that i did what was needed ... that i didn't look for an easier softer way that ultimately would undermine my confidence.

on top of all that, i saw pods and pods and pods of dolphins. they always make me smile and when i'm on my bike almost make me crash!

dolphins make me smile and want to cry all at the same time. they touch me in a way that i was never able to explain, until a few years ago ...

i was on the beach in malibu and i saw a bunch of dolphins playing in waves. i stood there and just stared. i could look at them forever. there was a random man standing a bit behind me. i couldn't contain my happiness at seeing them. i always want to confirm with someone else that they see them too and that they think they are amazing as well. as if they are some magical, mysterious thing that may not even be there!

i looked back at the man, as if to say "see that?!?! aren't they fantastic!?!?!" he smiled so i told him how they stir me. how i involuntarily get tears in my eyes and my heart sort of floats and is squeezed all at once.

he said simply: "that is your soul being touched". oh my god. that was it. i knew it in that instant. i'll never forget those words. he was so matter of fact about it and was so right.

i look at dolphins and my soul is touched. tickled even.

isn't that the best????

^..^

photo courtesy of j.