Tip of the Day and a Deep Thought (well, deep for me anyway)

Day 15
ibuprofen: none so far, but that will probably change...
38 days until the triathlon

So today, I got my Tip of the Day from one of our Fearless Leaders, and this has already made a difference in how I swim: I had been lifting my head out of the water to breathe, which, after a while, kinda makes your neck hurt. And when your neck hurts, then it's harder to get your head out of the water to breathe. Then you have a harder time breathing, which then leads to panic and thinking you are going to drown. (I feel like Yoda here, explaining how anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering....)

And what was the Tip of the Day? Don't lift your head out of the water, just roll over on your side a little more to get your head out. One simple thing. Much reduced breathing difficulties and panic. A wee bit of relaxation in the pool. And a lot of gratitude on my part!

You swimmer folks probably already knew that little tidbit, but it was one of those little things that makes a lot of difference to me :-)

Another thought: I was struck by an offhand comment I heard recently, "We didn't know the last day was going to be the last day." It was in reference to something completely different, but the impact it had on me was this: I don't want to live putting off something I want to try, or letting beautiful moments pass by unnoticed, or waiting for something to happen that may never come before I can "really" live. I want to notice it all, do whatever I can and keep moving. Because we never know when that last day is coming - whether it's death or injury or heartbreak or whatever. We never know. So it's time to live ... while it's still called today, as the prophet Isaiah put it. Today.

Oh, and thanks to one of the other group members for encouraging me to find a way to put a counter on the page...it's great to see how many visits I'm getting :-)