Remember to look up at the stars, and not down at your feet. ~Stephen Hawking

In nursing and healthcare, we always tell patients to “look up” when ambulating. Why? Safety. You don’t want to bump into anything and your body goes where it looks. It’s natural. You look down, and your body naturally moves down; you look up, and your entire body seems to “look up.”

I have a bad habit of looking down when I run. I’m not sure why, but I catch myself doing it all the time. It seems to pass time more quickly when I see my feet moving forward. Maybe. I recently started (sporadically) running in the early morning with a friend. It’s usually pitch black. There are a few street lights along our path, and we feel safe. What I noticed, though, upon our first and every run, is the stars. They’re brilliant. I literally counted three shooting stars one morning. Needless to say, the run passed rather quickly.

Growing up in a rural Texas town, I used to consider it a strike against the urban and suburban areas that I couldn’t see the stars anymore. But I think I just stopped looking up.

Look up. Good advice for ambulating, self-improvement, and leadership.