Paying Attention

Today I am grateful for opportunities to problem-solve, seek insight, meditate, listen. These are pursuits that can be binding or liberating. Letting go of outcomes is a key to freedom.

And paying attention is key to daily living. It’s not just for students sitting in a classroom. It is for all of us as students in the much larger classroom of life. 

Pay attention when driving, making coffee, turning a light on, taking a bite of food. 

Pay attention when listening to others, watching facial expressions, hearing tone of voice. 

Pay attention when outdoors. Sensory overload from natural sources beats sensory overload from manufactured sources. 

Pay attention to breathing, to thoughts coming and going, to peace that can come in a simple pause.

As I drove yesterday morning, paying attention to the road, fellow drivers, lane changes, I noticed the sunrise in the rearview mirror. I captured this picture when I had a safe moment.

The rearview mirror bringing me the sun that would brighten the next several hours of the day ahead in our part of the world. I thought about the beautiful colors, the clouds, that many others were seeing this too. And that many others were missing it because they weren't paying attention.

I am reminded of the words of Albert Einstein: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

This quote is an aspiration I may never reach, but any day with even a few minutes of noticing the miracles around me is a day that will have more hope than despair, more gratefulness and energy. 

Paying attention puts the miracles in front of us, behind us, and all around us.