New Eyes
I was in 5th grade and I must have muttered something about not being able to see the blackboard one too many times. Next thing I knew I was getting glasses. I don’t remember much about my blurry existence leading up to that moment, but I remember the instant I put on those tortoise-shell cat glasses: everything was so BRIGHT! Colors came alive and things had such definition. I was Dorothy stepping out of her drab twister-traveling house into Oz. Everything was beautiful and exciting again.
Every so often I am lucky enough to have one of those “new glasses” experiences. The first beautiful day of Spring always infuses me with hope and happiness. Watching my children come through an experience which brings me right back to when I had done the same. And if I’m lucky, just taking the time to observe what is going on around me with “new eyes”. Last week was one of those times.
I’ve walked this path enough times now to know that when I am feeling frustrated and unsure of myself, it’s a sign I need to slow down and look for the answer. Invariably it is right in front of me. So when that old familiar feeling started creeping in of late, I took the time to observe. I look for patterns - in behavior, language, situations. Any time I see three of something, I figure that it might be noteworthy. And I keep looking with renewed interest to see what I can learn from the pattern being presented to me.
As if often the case, I saw a pattern in the behaviors of three persons whom I had known or known of for a while. Although what they do is always of the highest quality, it is more what is behind it that spoke to me.
The first is a woman who is a great networker and invited a group of what she considered to be interesting women to dinner so that we could meet each other. It was an honor in its self to be considered an “interesting woman”! The next one is another woman who describes herself as a “serial entrepreneur”. What she does with her time/life is exhausting for me to even think about. Not only does she run major events to help companies get started, but has a couple of her own businesses (global) and manages to assist a charity helping third world countries build preschools and boost healthcare and immunizations. And she is always high energy and high optimism. And the third person was Tim Russert. No, I never knew him, but like millions of others, I felt like I did. He exemplified an authentic person who lived life with passion. I cried more watching his memorial service than I had since my dog died.
So what was the pattern that spoke to me? Successful people doing what they love. They were all totally genuine. What they did was not overtly because of where it would get them; it was because it was what spoke to them. It was by doing what was important to them that cleared the way for their success. They were not successful just in a monetary or status way either. They were/are successful in the game of life. They give of themselves freely and share their gifts without reservation. They probably wouldn’t even think it was a big deal what they were doing because it was so much just doing what was natural to them. They inspired me, like Payne Stewart did years ago, to do what is important to me, to use the gifts I’ve been given, and know that the rest will fall in line. When I can get out of the ceaseless churnings of my overactive mind and just trust my heart, the results are truly amazing.
I was thinking recently about how my mother in law used to come to our house with about 3 pairs of reading glasses and invariably leave one behind. I never understood why she needed so many pairs, until I got a little older myself. Last week was like finding a misplaced pair of glasses - I could finally see things clearly again! Life seems to be a series of misplaced glasses at times but I remain grateful that for those few days I’m able to see with new eyes. I imagine that when I finally learn how to trust and continually do the right thing it will be a little like Lasik surgery: seeing clearly the majority of the time, with only a few times needing a little extra assistance. Maybe someday I’ll get there, but for now I’m just thankful for the glasses!