Do You Take Time to Smell the Roses?

Welcome to another episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim, and you’re listening to the podcast where we recognize that in the middle of our game of life, whether you’re by 10 or down by 20, we all need halftime talks to uplift us, inspire us and challenge us to bring that level of performance. You know, it’s going to take to win the game. Check out this.

Massage. Be, if you’re gonna put my key pitch. So it’s another episode, and the way we begin, as we do all times, is what a little bit of appreciation to set the tone for not just the day, but this segment coming forward. And today, I want to appreciate the witnessing, the offering and the receiving of random acts of kindness. Sometimes we might be in a funk, or we might just be lollygagging around and we see a smile, or somebody opening a door or assisting a woman with a carriage up the subway stairs. These acts extend and magnify goodness in the world. These acts of kindness allow us to connect with that level of humanity we hope exists and now we’re witnessing. So if you’re offering it, or if you’re receiving or just witnessing it, you know how good it feels that is our appreciation.

I can easily say now the fall is truly here. I can look out the window and see the leaves changing, and let you know that sometimes we’re part of a bigger plan, part of a seasonality of life, where things keep going. And hopefully in that going on, that passage of time, hopefully we’re growing as well. So in today’s episode, what we’re going to be talking about is something you know, you hear so often, but how often are we practicing it? Uh, smelling the roses? Uh, you’ve heard you’ve heard this across time. And there’s so many cliches, and they’re cliches for a reason. The basis of them has a level of substance that sometimes we overlook or fail to truly see the essence of what holds it together.

And today, I want to, you know, offer perspective, put a spin on it, and hopefully allow it to wedge not just in your mind, but allow it to galvanize the essence of who you are and how you approach these kind of situations. So without further ado, let’s just jump right into the episode and begin to do our version of smelling roses. You I want to say it was the beginning of the summer, you know, I’m full in full swing in my running I want to say it was the beginning of the summer, you know, I’m full in full swing in my running mode. I am a running machine like literally.

And during this run, you know, I run down the block, and then I shoot up about a mile and a half to Prospect Park, do a lap around Prospect Park, and then I head toward the gym to get my workout on. And one day, something shifted. You know, not only am I having fun because I’m feeling the vitality of my body, but as I’m running on this one street called Garfield from the park, I watch a lady like literally on her tippy toes cup of flour and bring it toward her nose. And I was like, Man, that’s definitely a moment of somebody smelling the roses.

And so it put a smile on my face, and I proceeded down the hill, and I watched somebody look another person look at a mural, and they were just in awe of it. They just stood there. It was just no real purpose in mind. They were just relishing the moment. And both of these moments stood out to me, and it brings brings together the point I want to make in this episode. A lot of times we. So blinded by ambition that we fail to see the beauty of what’s going on. And if you look at goals and and challenges and and these dreams that we we ardently seek to accomplish so much, it’s always about a future state.

We’re comparing our now with the unaccomplishment of possessing that thing in the future. And if we would describe the emotional satisfaction of the future, it would feel good. And ultimately, what we can do right now is we can focus towards feeling good right now. So what’s the purpose of it all, if it’s not to appreciate the moment? One of the things that I’ve discovered over time is that things change, some of the things that we appreciate right now so much are because they’ve disappeared, be it opportunities, friends, even just a texture of an environment who we have around us. The continuity of things and time is the great equalizer.

Because, you know, like I am Hotep says in this quote, eat, drink and be merry, for Tomorrow we shall die. And it’s raising a level of awareness that not only are we, are we just passengers on the vessel of time, but, uh, it’s beautiful right now. You listen to any generation, they’re fond of what used to be, what if we were fond of where we are, without letting the comparison of a hope and desire take us out of where we are in this moment of watching the woman cup the flower affected me so much that I literally started stopping and smelling roses myself while roses in my area are a little bit few and far between, sometimes it’s just taken in, taken in the scene and relishing it, knowing that in the middle of What seems to be a rare opportunity, just releasing and standing in a sense of sublime awe of look how far I’ve come.

Look at all the corresponding elements that have contributed to the satisfaction of this moment. And sometimes, you know, like, even when I’m in the restaurant and and I have a dish, and this dish is is out of this world. I think about all the intentionality that went into his creation, from the farmer, the rancher, the distribution the packager, the restaurant, the chef, the server, all, all of those corresponding elements that brought it to this moment. And we’ve heard this before. We’ve heard the Carpe Diem seize the moment for tomorrow it shall be gone. We heard you make make hay while the sun shines. We’ve, we’ve, we’ve heard these.

But how often do we practice these? How often do we pause? No pun intended, how often do we pause and just sit back? We’re so blinded by our ambition that we fail to see the beauty of majesty that sits before us. But the cool piece is, is that we could change this. You could change this. You can change this by going into your day right now and look where you are, look at the beauty out the window, like feel the vitality that flows through your body. And if you don’t think you have it, I challenge you to just walk and look at people of an elder generation, and see how they move and how they look at you and like man, I wish I would have taken advantage of that vitality the courses through that body.

So. So the last thing we want to do is allow this passage of time to be a cautionary tale for somebody to to look upon later, like we might as well love it now, our Earth, our time, our economy, our money, our vitality, Our youthfulness, our spirit, our curiosity, our passion, our hunger, our ambition, our drive, our relentlessness, our tenacity, our zeal, our courage, our boldness, our love, our truth, love it all right now it’s It’s here for the takings and like by the time I finish with this life, I’ll sure take more than it gave, and I’ll give more than most expect. So until next time, my name is Rahim Rasul, thanks for listening.

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