Yesterday I read Dan Coyle’s new book, Flourish.

It’s all about how to create more meaning and joy in our lives. (It’s FANTASTIC. Note soon.)

I took a break for lunch and got in a quick Yahtzee game with Eleanor as I ate.

Fun Johnson household fact: We’ve ben playing an *absurd* amount of Yahtzee (and Uno and Sorry) these days!

Target swipe: Play with Your Awesome Kids 🎯

After the quick bite and game, Eleanor and I went on a quick walk.

About a quarter of the way down our trail, we needed to walk around a tree that had fallen a few days before during a pretty good storm.

Eleanor chose to make the detour an obstacle course as she balanced on and skipped from one fallen tree trunk to the next.

I told her how much I loved watching her move her body. She has an incredible natural poise and joy as she moves.

Fun fact: She ran her first 5k when she was three and completed her first Spartan Race at five!!

I told her we should have named her Eleanor Grace Johnson because she’s so wonderfully graceful.

She smiled at the fact that we *did* name her Eleanor Grace Johnson as I celebrated her beautiful, graceful movement.

Then…

And now we’re getting closer to the point of Today’s +1…

She sprinted ahead to show off that joyful, graceful movement.

Additional fun fact: She was barefoot as she always is.

Then…

As I approached her, I saw that she had set up some branches on the ground as a sort of long jump challenge for herself.

She stepped back from the first branch she put on the ground, got a running start, and then leaped from one branch to the next.

Success!!!

Then she moved the branches so the second one was a little farther away and repeated her process.

Success!!

Then she did it again—this time putting the second branch even further away from the first.

She stepped back, got a running start, and jumped!

And…

This time, she didn’t quite make it past her mark.

Perfect!

As I watched, I smiled and thought of T.S. Eliot’s wisdom.

He once said: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

And…

THAT’s the point of Today’s +1.

Remember…

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

If you’re easily clearing all the stick-goals you’re setting for yourself, perhaps you can challenge yourself a little more.

If you’ve missed a couple jumps lately, perhaps you can recalibrate a bit WHILE celebrating the fact you went for it and had an opportunity to discover just how far you can go!

In all scenarios, here’s to celebrating the experience of being alive and finding joy and meaning and purpose with those we love.

It’s Day 1.

We’re ALL IN.

Let’s go!!

Only Those Who Risk… #1991

Jumping Over Sticks with Eleanor

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