In a recent email exchange with someone who has been through a tough medical journey and, keen cyclist as they are, recently managed to get out on the bike with two good friends, they wrote something quite beautiful:
I had a great ride last weekend and we travelled up towards the hills and finished beside the river estuary, which was sparkling in the sunshine. I have always tried to do things mindfully, but possibly as a result of my recent illness, have gained a heightened appreciation of the simple (and priceless) things in life – like marvelling at the apple blossom or a feeling the sun on your face as you leave the house in the morning.
Like the writer, I too feel I have always tried to do things mindfully, and I too, as a result of my recent illness, feel I have gained a heightened appreciation of the simple (and priceless) things in life, such as feeling the sun on my face.
As regular readers know, my illness (early-stage colon cancer) is in the past, though as I am going through the “insurance” of taking chemo tablets for the next several months, I am not yet riding my own bike yet, as I sense my body is telling me to rest. I do, though, look forward to getting out on the bike again over the summer and feeling the sun on my face and the breeze cooling me, perhaps with a view like the one above that I took last summer, at a time when I was taking a middle of the working day break several times a week for a ride up to the North Downs. Simple pleasures.
Feel the sun on your face.