I SEE THINGS. When I say that to people, my
husband gets nervous and whispers, “Don’t say that. People will think you’re weird!” But it’s true—I do see things and maybe I am weird, ha ha, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Proclaiming that "I see things"
is how I usually start out my professional speaking engagements, because that sums up a big part of my experience in life and many of the things I write and talk about. I love to joke with my audiences, “Who else goes through a car wash and comes out with spiritual enlightenment?!” As you saw in last week’s 200th FTG email in a row, that’s happened to me three times now, with a different lesson each time. (Woo-hoo! Our 200th Anniversary
Edition! Click here if you missed it.)
Today I encourage you to see things too. You already see things, but I want you to look deeper, to pause when something relatively ordinary catches your eye. Maybe there’s a reason the big red stop sign on the school bus jolted you awake?
The next time that happens and you take a second look at something, stare at it a few seconds longer. Be mindful of what you’re seeing and open to being shown a parallel in life. There may be a powerful, relevant and timely life lesson right there for you to grab.
As I promised last week, I’m going to try to walk you through how this happens for me by using a moment last week that was very ordinary, as most of them are. Pay close attention because I believe you can see things too. Train yourselves to be extra
mindful when life gives you a reason to pause and take a second look. You will find valuable life lessons and reminders to help you live a richer, fuller experience.
Our kitchen window at the sink overlooks our backyard,
and into the side yard of our neighbor behind us. These folks don’t live in the subdivision where I live, but adjacent to it. They have five acres with dogs, cats, and multi-colored chickens, and their most recent addition, two white turkeys. Their backyard provides nonstop entertainment, especially when they had roosters and a duck. Incidentally, this is where our inherited feral cat colony was started with two young female kittens that weren’t spayed, but that’s another story.
As I was washing dishes and gazing out the window, I saw the neighbor’s teenage son suddenly come barreling out of their front door. He bounded down the front steps with his arms waving wildly. If it’s possible for a human to
be going in four directions at once, that was him. He was going fast, moving all over the place like his pants were on fire, while careening forward as he took off around the far corner of their house. Briefly out of view, he showed up a minute later casually walking around their back deck like nothing happened.
Something about that struck me as strange. At first, I was alarmed and wondered if there was some emergency. Secondly, I contemplated what I know about the art of running from my track days long ago.
There’s a right and wrong way to run if you’re serious about getting somewhere fast. Every part of your body needs to be helping you thrust forward, providing zero resistance. Eyes need to be looking forward. Arms and legs need to be controlled and parallel with your body. Movement in other directions should be avoided. Think about a jet. If we tied buoys to flop around on each side, they would cause drag and
slow the jet down. It's the same thing with running when the intention is to go fast.
While I noticed the boy moving very quickly, I was also seeing the contradiction of him working against himself with all the other wild
movements. I began to wonder, is he in a hurry or not? He’s making a huge effort while sabotaging himself at the same time. (And boom, there it was... the start of another life lesson simply because I allowed myself to be mindfully observant and then curious. Back to that in a moment.)
After he reappeared on his back deck and I knew he was okay, I paused to consider why it caught my attention and why it seemed so odd to me. Whenever I get a funny feeling in an ordinary moment that grabbed my attention, I know by now that if I meditate on it just a little bit longer, a gift will surface—a worthy life lesson will reveal itself.
Sure enough, studying his incongruent movements and pausing long enough until the mental picture became clear led to an entire life lesson unfolding about self-sabotage and fear of success. I can’t wait to share the spiritual download I received next week!
Some of you may be shaking your heads, thinking, you got all of that from a neighbor boy running out his front door? Ha ha, yes. Even wild teenagers can bring us wisdom. Powerful self-reflection resulted from being present enough while washing dishes
to notice what was happening around me, and honoring the nudge in my spirit to think more about what I saw, instead of immediately dismissing him.
These relevant messages are available for you as well. Many life
lessons and valuable, life-changing reminders are right in front of us, if we’re mindful to the present moment and open to receiving guidance.
Am I weird? Maybe. Do I receive an abundance of guidance when ordinary moments
bring extraordinary perspective because I’m willing to pay attention? Absolutely—enough to be compelled to write hundreds of them down for later reference, and then ultimately to share them with you in my book and now my emails.
I SEE THINGS and I wholeheartedly believe that you can broaden your vision too!
Open and expand your window of noticing a few times this week. Be willing to receive an unexpected gift.
Reply and let me know if you SEE anything during your prolonged mindfulness of ordinary moments. If you're willing to share in our FTG Readers Group, you will likely encourage others, and then we’ll all be SEEING things!
Happy sight-seeing! Next week, I'll share my life lesson from the neighbor boy with his "pants on fire." It was too long to include this week, but I promise it will be worth the wait.
