24 Feb This Bowl Stopped Me in my Tracks

This Bowl Stopped Me in My Tracks.

It's just a bowl. The kind you'd use for soup, porridge, or noodles.

But yesterday, I actually looked at it.

A phoenix in mid-flight at the centre. A border of tiny diamonds, painted so carefully you can feel the patience behind every stroke. Peonies around the rim, each petal deliberate. Someone cared deeply about this bowl — not knowing it would one day hold my favourite seafood porridge on a quiet Tuesday.

And it hit me: how many things in my life am I not actually seeing?

We skim. We scan. What we forget to do is see.

The bowl becomes invisible. The colleague becomes a task. The morning becomes a checklist.

Mindfulness isn't always a meditation app or a weekend retreat. Sometimes it's just pausing long enough to notice that the bowl you've owned for years has a phoenix on it.

3 small shifts to try this week:

> Pick one ordinary object and look at it like you've never seen it before. What do you notice?

> Before your next conversation, take one breath and ask: "What might I be missing?" Curiosity opens doors that assumption keeps shut.

> Slow one routine moment down. Not to be productive. Just to be there. Say when you brush your teeth or when you have that piece of chocolate.

The phoenix was always on the bowl. We just have to stop long enough to see it. 🌿

What's something ordinary that surprised you when you truly paid attention?

#Mindfulness #Presence #PersonalGrowth #Leadership #Wellbeing #SlowDown

🌷 humbly from Linda's desk @ Tulip Meadows 🌷