say yes to the moment

When I was on holiday with my husband we did a lot of cycling. Our holiday destination was somewhere hilly and windy and at points it was hard going. On the third day of cycling - which is usually the most difficult - I had a mental block. I kept looking up that hill we were climbing and I was mentally devastated after 10 minutes into our ride. Needless to say that I was not enjoying myself at all. I was in full blown struggle mode and my husband definitely knew about it...

I continued... mainly because I did not like to what I perceived as give up. After one hour into the ride, something suddenly shifted and instead of looking ahead I started to look to the left and the right. My therapist used the words "saying yes to the moment", which resonated a lot with me and describes what happened very accurately. Instead of wanting to be somewhere different, doing something different, I decided to say yes to what was- even though it was tough.

Miraculously, the ride became incredibly enjoyable and I was rewarded with a very long downhill bit in the end, which was wonderfully liberating and freeing.
 
So, instead of looking ahead and imagining the pain to come, look to the left and right, truly commit what is there instead of thinking of wanting to arrive. Arrive in the moment and say yes to what is. Enjoy the view.