Monday, January 2, 2012

What extraordinary can emerge from the ordinary?

I said I would return to the story of Novotel Madrid.

Who would have thought I would choose to return to it, to welcome in 2012.

But like Steve McCurry’s wonderful photography (he is currently exhibiting in Roma),  it is about how the extraordinary can emerge from the ordinary.


So there I was helping to run a leadership programme at this hotel, on the phone, having just been put 'on hold'...when the dulcet sounds of English and Spanish voices... invited me then and there..."to take a deep breath"..."to relax"..."to take time out and enjoy the moment"...(as opposed, I guess to the more common and automatic response one has when on-hold of getting impatient..irritated..annoyed with irksome music...) 

Our breath.

It is safe to say that it is always with us...and it is the one thing we all have in common.   It is the most ordinary thing we have.  Yet how often do we bring our attention to it? honour it?

And when we do... something extraordinary happens... we come fully into the now, we relax, we suspend judgement, we feel peaceful and whole...

Rushing from last year to this one...I therefore pass on the invitation to notice ... your ordinary extraordinary ability to breathe.

Acknowledgements:
  • Image source: stevemccurry.wordpress.com
  • And compliments to Novotel Madrid for their innovation in turning an often unpleasant experience into a gift for their guests!

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