Before I started studying for my Sports Science degree I didn’t know reflection, or more to the point I didn’t understand it.  That is not to say I didn’t do it, it is just to say I didn’t “get it”.

The last four years have brought a great deal of reflection and it tends to intersperse so many areas of life that if you are not careful it can take over. So I looked it up in the dictionary… it brought forward “thoughts on something, careful consideration and thoughts”.  I find I get a lot of those, but I guess now I write them down a lot more .. maybe that is what a degree does for you !!

So then I seemed to want to ask myself everything, if I am allowed to reflect and consider carefully then I might as well try to be damn good at it. I started with my soccer teams that I coach cause I reflect on them all the time – what to do , how to do it, when to do it, what to change, how to change .. so many questions, so many thoughts, so few answers.

But then I learned a pretty cool thing .. reflection is about consideration, but it is also about learning.  It is the process of reflection that (hopefully) allows you to look at things differently, consider things in a different way and try and find better ways to a better tomorrow.

With the very thoughts of seeing something the same but finding something different I headed to Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Having lived on the island for almost 14 years it is hard to believe I have never discovered this Pacific Northwest treasure on 150 acres on my door step.

Sometimes it is possible for pictures to say more than words ever could..

And there again the tranquility of Bloedel on a sunny Sunday afternoon just seemed so out of sync with the rest of the world .. I like hustle, bustle, shopping, music, restaurants, sports and all those great things the world has to offer, but then there are places like Bloedel that this wonderful world has for us. Sometimes right on your door step there is something waiting to show you wonderful.