Autumn is now in full swing and quite evident here in the Midwestern portion of the United States where I live. A renovation of the landscape is occurring. The leaves on the trees are changing from emerald to golden amber, burnt orange and fiery crimson and soon they will flutter to the ground when the brisk autumn breeze blows. Whistles and cheers reverberate through the chilly air at the Friday night school football games and a crackling of the logs in the fire pit mesmerize all who stop to feel its warmth. As a rare exception, this year an over abundance of rain fell in our region recently. Thus, we uncharacteristically have areas of devastating flooding with some major roadways near the many lakes and rivers in our state.
Today I drove some friends to the airport and realized for the first time, the incredible amount of excess water pouring over the banks of a major nearby river. It was shocking to see only the very tops of twenty and thirty foot trees waving above the rushing water, parks completely immersed no longer visible to the eye, and in one area…the water seemed to continue forever into the horizon.
My route home included crossing a hefty bridge. That was the moment my eyes were opened to the devastation that will linger for citizens in our area for months to come. The headline of every news program, for the last week and a half, included stories of the destruction and ruin. However, this truly was the first time I had witnessed it with my own eyes. The actual visual changed my perspective completely. I have been so consumed with the flood of messages, activities and demands of my own small world; I failed to grasp the bigger picture of how people around me could be endangered and hurting from this natural disaster.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." ~Marcel Proust
What have your eyes been “seeing”? What “lens” are you looking through?
A friend of mine told me about a miscommunication with a client. He rescheduled a meeting to another time...however the client did not receive the message for some reason. When my friend and his client did connect via mobile, they both agreed to still meet that evening. Amidst the obstacles, the meeting ensued...the result? An incredible evening with much forward progress in life for both participants.
Many times in such an event, we find people angry, hostile and bitter about the miscommunication because it inconvenienced them or interrupted their other plans. We often look at the situation from our own lenses that have not been cleaned for quite some time. We have not taken note as to how many times our own finger prints have touched the lens - how many times we were thinking of our self and the inconvenience which was placed on our own life.
The wisdom I found is that these very finger prints obstruct us from visualizing a clear picture of the beautiful possibilities which could occur.
What have your eyes been “seeing”? What “lens” are you looking through?
I recently met a lovely woman from London, Tina Andretta, who takes pleasure in devouring positive reading material to learn and grow. Her most recent book seemed to create an eye-opening experience - almost like putting on a new set of lenses for the first time. Tina shared, “New eyes are a result of renewed self belief and self image - Going back to the fact that we do not see with our eyes, but with our brains. ...A few months ago I would have written this comment based on theory only, and now I'm talking from experience. Since my belief system around who I am and what I'm capable of has changed, the whole world is taking on new form. My life has totally changed in the last 2 months, and it's ABSOLUTELY because my self-image has DRAMATICALLY improved.”
Tina now sees new possibilities in the world – more beauty around her. Possibly it is her positive reading material which has cleared her “life lens”. Her new vision is magnificent.
Now it is YOUR turn…
What have your eyes been “seeing”? What “lens” are you looking through? We look forward to hearing your experience.
My very first thought to that statement was ‘How true’. I’m going to be rather bold here and make a statement that is wrapped in love but comes straight from my heart: All the desire and passion in our heart to accomplish our goals cannot and will not ever come to fruition while sitting on the sofa. Having good intentions, a grateful heart and heaps of positive thoughts and words are very useful – quite honestly, they are considered, by most including myself, to be the first step on the staircase to success. Yet, until we get up off the sofa and start walking, all those good intentions are only, well….good intentions. The action is missing. We may be able to see the top of our Success Staircase and believe with all our heart and soul it is obtainable. YES! That is the right attitude. But how are you going to get there when you are standing on the first step?
