It was a normal Friday morning around 7am. Fridays are my day off and I do like to make the most of these days. My normal routine, once I am up, is to make the bed, warm up the coffee machine and feed the dog.
When I went outside I caught glimpse of a rainbow, perfectly positioned between my house and the garage. It wasn’t the brightest rainbow, but all it’s colours were there and it made me smile. A rainbow is such a gift, it’s like Mother Nature, at her best, showing you what she can do. I’m always so grateful for being in the right place, at the right time when a rainbow shows up.
I started to wonder, what might the other side look like, will it be as pretty, will it be the same, how far away is it and will it still be there by the time I get my Ugg boots on and find my phone to take a photo?
Remarkably my Ugg boots and phone were actually in the place I thought they were. So it was no time before I got myself out the front door and onto the street.
Standing in my PJ’s and Ugg boots, what greeted me was much more than I had anticipated. I’d completely underestimated the other side of the rainbow. It was bright and much more colourful than the first side. It was positioned perfectly against the green of the mountains and the grey sky.
As the sun broke through the rain clouds it brightened the rainbow and I wondered what it would be like to be caught in the beams and surrounded by the colour? I wondered where the end of the rainbow may be and whether I could get there before it disappeared completely. I watched the rainbow as it started to fade until I could only see a faint trace of what was once so bright.
On reflection later that day, I realised I’d used 4 out 5 character strengths with my rainbow experience:
Appreciation of excellence and beauty – being in awe of how wonderful a rainbow is
Curiosity – being curious enough to take the time to investigate the other side of the rainbow and all the questions that came from my little experience.
Creativity – Using this experience to create this blog post.
Gratitude – Being very grateful for being in the right place, at the right time.
Until next time.- Do you know your Character Strengths - https://www.viacharacter.org/
Tracy X
Cover photo from Unsplash by @iamjiroe