I was out and about today, the roads getting busy with Christmas shoppers, the car radio warbling with the odd Xmas song (yes I mean XMAS!) and I had to make two trips to the one location to collect some gear for a client, as well as two trips to another spot out much further than I would usually venture, but such was the task at hand.

It meant I had to negotiate my way around the back of a disused reception centre, it has a fairly leafy fernery out the back, out the back of that is what appears to have once been a nursery, overgrown and messy.

It took about nine trips to my vehicle loading up the various ‘bits’, I went from full sun and the noise of a busy road to the cool shade a muted tones of the traffic in the background. Tall ferns and deep green lattice under the cover of a huge roofed in pergola created a “solid slice of serenity” in my busy day.

Not long after I started I noticed a sound I had not heard for a very long time, a bull frog. The deep “Breebit” sound it made was short and deep, very resonant. At about trip seven back from the car I wanted to find the frog amongst the ferns and watch it. I got close and found a pond with lots of growth, green froth I guess it was tadpole eggs and slowly as I peered into the water emerged a few gold fish, very light, almost translucent white, slowly they moved gracefully amongst the ideal green growth.

I crouched down and waited, I was just a few feet back from the edge, finally after about a minute “Breebit” I honed my senses a bit more and moved closer I was sure I had located the area where the frog would be, I waited again.

The background muted traffic faded even more as I waited for signs of movement, signs of ‘frog life’ and I waited… “Breeeebit” I now had a better idea of where it was located and I watched, intrigued, deep in thought. I recalled watching and catching frogs and tadpoles as a kid… muddy farm dams with long reeds the frogs would easily hide in… I was transfixed on one spot… nothing.

My hustle and bustle day had folded in on itself, I was not concerned about what I had to do next, I was not hassled by the thought of the phone ringing… none of it mattered, I looked around (conscious that if you stand in one spot and it happens to have an ants nest nearby you can become a painful snack…) No ants.

I breathed easy enjoying the serene scene before me, wait where did that fish go? How come this pond has survived so well without any tending by people to top up the water? Oh yeah it’s in a shaded area of a fernery… very nice too. No frog, not a sign of it.

Standing up I noticed that the area was well protected against any predators so the frog had a great chance to thrive, the environment was fairly ideal really… I took a few steps in another direction to see if I could get a better view of the frog, no luck not a sign, not a peep.

For a while as I finished off my tasks I was more relaxed, breathing with ease, noting how my thoughts were strongly tinged with green lush foliage and a calm smooth pond that formed a trigger in my mind for quieter reflection.

I never got to see the frog, I managed to hear it once more as I left, I felt as if it was toying with me. The rest of my day was guilt free, not a rushed moment, not a hassle not a care really for the tasks ahead, just a sense of knowing I had stopped to reflect, to make time to “stop and smell the roses” as they say. I had a good day and was thankful the client had given me a nice little task.

In our busy business lives we often get too bogged down in the daily grind… now ask yourself, what can I do to take a moment or three to reflect? Guilt free, openly almost in defiance of the hustle and bustle we might have in front of us. What’s your story, your point of reflection, your time to connect deeper and relax, even if it is for just a fleeting moment…

Stumble it!