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May I Have Your Attention Please
I’m bein’ followed by a moon shadow. –Cat Stevens When was the last time you stared at the moon? Or listened to the chatter of the birds? Or the wind in the trees? What about noticing the pattern made by cracks in the sidewalk? Or the coolness of the cotton pillow beneath your head? These details of the present moment add richness to our lives. They surround us constantly…weaving in and out of our consciousness. A description of life from 30,000 feet doesn’t hold a candle to a gritty account of the details that engage all our senses. Even in response to a simple How was your day? But being here now isn’t easy in a world that is…
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Vade Mecum
vade mecum —noun something a person carries about for frequent or regular use. a book for ready reference; manual; handbook. Luggage sets come with some large bags and at least one small one to be used as a carry-on. We naturally divide things for a journey. Which items will we need handy? Which are relegated to checked luggage? Understanding our vade mecum can provide insight into what is most important to us. And, what we’re most dependent on. Things we think we can’t live without. Sure, it includes the obvious…wallet, phone, house keys. What else? When you’re packing for a trip, what makes it under the seat in front of you? Is there a…
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In the Face of Resistance
There are three paths when facing resistance…stay the course, adjust, or abort. If you spend any time with groups of humans, you are bound to be greeted with resistance. From mild indifference to out right opposition, we humans often disagree. When choosing how to go (boldly) forward, we can turn to the 23rd century engineer-cum-philosopher, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott of the USS Enterprise for wisdom… I’m giving it all she’s got, Captain! First choice, stay the course. This may feel like the most natural approach at times. After all, when you’re right, you’re right, right? Other people just need to get in line with your logic. Maybe. Or maybe not. Even when we think…
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The Sky in the Morning
It’s been said that we see what we look for. And, it’s true. For example, when you decide you want a new Jeep, it seems that only Wranglers and Rubicons fill the roads… Another way to think of this adage is that we see what we attend to. Considering the degree to which our thoughts inform our perceptions, becoming intentionally attentive is powerful. And yet, to be deeply attentive is not easy in a world of distraction. Giving our attention to one thing necessarily limits our ability to attend fully to another. Like the fallacy of multi-tasking, we simply cannot focus totally on two things at once. Even the way we talk about it, paying attention, reinforces the idea that being attentive comes…
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Just Like Ogres
“For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think… Onions have layers. Ogres have layers… You get it? We both have layers.” –Shrek (Shrek) They say we shouldn’t make something of nothing. Attributing significance to something that doesn’t warrant it…the proverbial mountain of the mole hill. I was recently reminded of the less-often-referenced flipside of the coin…making nothing of something. Like a tourist deliberately composing a picture to distort relative size, we like to pretend we can hold the Eiffel Tower in the palm of our hand. If something of nothing is living in exaggeration, then the converse is living in denial. From either seat, we’re not seeing our lives accurately. Not…
