If you were walking my Katie (Scottish Terrier) you wouldn’t have any other option but to stop and smell the roses. Katie never discovered a blade of grass she didn’t like. She was forever smelling the flowers and whatever else was her fancy. Granted an argument could be made that she was merely sniffing where other dogs had trod, but I would like to think that she was attempting to discover something new.
Whenever we went on walks, a great deal of the time was spent standing in one place and observing and enjoying the view before moving on. As time passed, I learned a great deal from that puppy. She knew how to enjoy the moment, she knew it was always wise to stop…. and smell whatever happened to be handy.
Katie simply would not be rushed. ‘Rush’ was not a word in her vocabulary and if you didn’t want to operate according to her rules then fine. Go ahead and do what you wanted. But she would not be turned from what she was about.
We humans do rush about so. And stopping to see what’s around us is really not deterring us from our destination, albeit delaying the timing a bit. In seeing what’s around us we may come to a new perspective. Or confirm our original decision. Or refine. The point is by stopping, we catch our breaths before moving on. And we arrive confidently and composed.
Stopping to smell the roses can mean a host of different things but the mindset is what’s important. Enjoy the view as you go on your way and maybe, just maybe, stop every once in a while to … smell the roses.
