It’s a question we take for granted. Our eyes answer this question every second we are awake. Our physical motion seems so fluid during the day. Never bumping into things. Easily navigating stairs. Driving cars. Walking in a new place for the first time. Physically, we are well equipped to answer this question. For we are always on auto pilot during the day.
But mentally, something strange happens. We lose our sight keeping us from answering the queston “what’s in front of you”. Never seeing our messy room, our cluttered office, or the trail of forgotten promises to complete. Frustrations or disappointments further push us from even seeing the question.
What if we thoughtfully asked this question regularly of ourselves?
When we get up in the morning. Or sitting at our desk. Before entering a meeting or an interview. Before coking a meal. As we stretch in the morning on a weekend day. Before a difficult endeavor. Or even when we face a regular chore. Even when looking in the mirror.
Stopping ourselves long enough to see what is in front us can be so helpful. Giving us a chance to stop to see what we see and what is. To notice the clutter in our life that is all around us growing like weeds.
By giving us the time to separate everything in front of us into two piles before we continue. One pile that is important. The other truly not important. For not all things are.
Counterintuitively, the more helpful pile is discovering the one that is not important. With age and wisdom we begin to understand that we must immediately discard the not important. Removing the clutter around us, to make it easier to move forward in our lives with what is.
For life is as short as the days we live.