Sometimes to see or make a difference we have to get closer.
As I drove hurriedly along the Ermie Bourne Highway in Barbados recently, on my way to a meeting, patches of purple kept catching my eye. Two hours later when the meeting was over, I was rushing to get to a second meeting when I decided to give into my urge to stop and take a closer look at those purple patches.
It turned out to be a wild vine growing across the sandy terrain leading to the beach. In their haste to get to their destinations, many people would have dismissed this lovely vine with its stunning flowers, as wild bush. By pausing, I saw its beauty.
Getting out of the car and going to look at that vine made me think that often, our temptation is not to get involved, to just keep going about our business without any deviation in our routine or habits. Other times, rather than being proactive, grappling with our circumstances, doing our best, making decisions, taking control, or effecting change, we stand back and wait to see what will happen, or who will intervene on our behalf.
Driving past the vine, then going back for a closer look also reminded me that we often ignore people, situations, circumstances and details because we think they are unimportant. We dismiss them as inconsequential, immaterial, or irrelevant. Sometimes, way too late, we discover that we have done so to our detriment. When we wake up to what we are missing, the person, importance, beauty, opportunity, enlightenment, experience, or benefit has passed us by and in many instances cannot be retrieved.
We cannot be spectators in life. And we must not be spectators in our own lives. Living is about doing, giving, reacting, engaging, directing. Living is about getting involved and pausing to pay attention. The people who make the most of opportunity are the ones who pause to pay attention and in pausing they see what those of us who are rushing by, often miss, or ignore.
To connect with a person who will bring value to our lives, to get a more accurate picture, an improved understanding of context, an authentic experience, to enjoy overlooked beauty, or to obtain a better outcome, we must pause, pay attention, get closer and engage.
Being a spectator is not enough. Our satisfaction, happiness and success come when we engage.
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