It Only Takes A Smile

I am not a runner.  if I had the strength and determination to make it so close to the finish line , and my legs gave out, I would hope people could support me like this. Proof that angels work in disguises sometimes

This year I vowed to do one thing each month I was afraid of.  

January:ecstatic dance

February:signing up for a home exchange and planning an impromptu trip 

March: going to an outdoor spa in Iceland !

Grant it , I was both intrigued and scared . All of these activities are a mixture of intrigue and fear. 

But the more I commit to this mini project, the more proud I feel of myself. I am surrounded by interesting and amazing people I may have never been exposed to. I’ve formed fabulous stories, all in trying to overcome fear on various levels.

I begin to question what else is holding me back.

I realise I have mini fears of many things. Yesterday , when we came upon a frozen lake and I saw people walking and sliding on it, fear arose. What if the frost cracked and we fell in.

But fear was replaced by opportunity. 

Kids have no fear , at what age does that arise for us? There is a question many leaders ask themselves …”what would you do if you weren’t afraid?” 

Take action, and see what arises in your life .

In recent years I have had an increased fascination with seeing the northern lights. What I could expect was to not have expectations . You could spend days during lights season searching for them, but never find anything . As we took our five hour bus tour from Reykjavik last night, our tour guide reminded us this. Tours even offer a free tour if you see no lights. It’s this common.

And so as we drove away from town, on a northern route, calculated from the projected cloud coverage of the evening . We quickly found an area where a siting would be probable. It was as if we were searching for ghosts. And in some way it was.

As we stood there in negative Celsius temperatures. We hoped for something .

And as we stood, our eyes had to adjust to the evening. Minutes passed and we watched and what appeared looked like clouds , but were lights. Difficult for the naked eye to see, but expresses itself more fully with a professional camera. 

As time stood still, and I stopped fidgeting with my phone and functions. I realised watching the Aurora borealis was a spiritual experience . I blocked out everyone else trying to capture the moment on digital imagery. And simply lived it. 

Iceland is magical.