Blind Spot

“We should all work together individually to help on many different fronts.”

Blind Spot

My daughter was sitting by my side when she said, “I watched you check your blind spot, that’s good!”

I was driving.  She was my passenger. Now, these many years later, she’s a driver as well.  That’s a good thing, because now, when we’re together, she is very capable of watching out for blind spots right along with me.  After all, I’ve found that there are times when I don’t watch out for myself as well as I ought to.

In fact, there have been at least two occasions when I’ve been in such a hurry and simply sort of driving on “auto pilot” in my own driveway.   I didn’t have any one with me.  I was careless.  I backed into the car of friends of my daughters on both times!  There are no excuses here!  I was so wrapped up in my own head, assuming that everything was the way is almost always is, an empty driveway, that I didn’t take the time to check my own blind spots. So, now, when I’m backing up and my wife is in the car, she reminds me to take the time to actually check behind me before begin to back up.  It’s just a friendly reminder that makes a huge difference.

Her gentile aide-mémoire has been instrumental in causing me to appreciate other types of types of blindness from which I may suffer.  We all have such blind spots in our lives.  Do you know the kind of thing I’m talking about?  Not one of us think completely through things all of the time.  We also suffer from a lack of good judgement from moment to moment because of our own emotions every once in a while.  Recognizing this can make all the difference in potential outcomes!

Appreciation of our own potential weaknesses can open the way for us to enlist some “blind spot identifiers.”  Finding such identifiers can be relatively easy and is as simple as talking through challenges with members of your family or close, trusted friends & advisers that you know have your best interests at heart.  People who have shown you, over an extended period of time, that they have good judgement and care for you.

And, there are times when you also need to show your own good judgement and confidence in them by listening to and accepting the counsel from your trusted advisors. Because, there will likely be times when you aren’t thinking clearly and you don’t want to hear what they have to say.  That’s how you’ll know you’ve likely identified another blind spot!

So, here we are, you and me, driving through life with lots of potential blind spots.  Let’s make sure we include some well selected passengers to travel through life with us, now and for many years to come to as well.  It will be a good thing, because when we travel together, our trusted advisers will be very capable of watching out for blind spots right along with us.  After all, we’ve found that there are times when we don’t watch out for ourselves as well as we ought to.

Those sitting by our side will say, “I watched for your blind spot, it’s all good!”

Our Rigorous Education

“Do you often get the chance to show houses before the hit the market?” – Brad Romney

Our Rigorous Education

Quiet desperation had approached, gotten near and then settled squarely in my chest!  It was the day before showing some clients from the State of Washington seven homes.  I had been worried over the past three days that they’d all go under contract.  Now I was checking them one by one.  And, one by one they were showing as being under contract.  I had to search for other options!

Then, in a stroke, an ah-ha moment, I thought of the home I had just been given permission to market.  I checked my mental buyer’s-wish-list and went down each point in sequence.  There was only one conclusion to infer.  It was the right house for these people!  I reached for my phone and called for an appointment.  I pause here because this is not the focus of the story.

There was a sequence of events that led to this point.  A seemingly unconnected string of “coincidences” that all magically worked together to bring all of the involved parties a rush of unexpected surprise, a joy of finding and success.  Since you and I have lived for some time now, we can understand how fleeting such success can be.

We are all familiar with the fiery trials life offers us.  We all have periodic “public relations” problems with others, being misrepresented and misunderstood.  We all have to simply, “take it” from time to time.  As a result, when success comes to us we happily accept the relief and live to fight another day.  This creates a sort of civil war within us as individuals; a war between optimism and cave-dark despair.  It can also delude us into a thought pattern of “I made this success of myself!”

The truth was delivered to me quite dramatically through this one experience of a universe-offered clear vision of hind-sight to illuminate its inner-workings.  There is simply no way such a diversity of people and seemingly unrelated conditions could have lined up for the success of all! 

Since life illustrates, painfully at times, our own defects, as well as the defects of others, we are bound to be periodically disappointed thereby in ourselves and in others.  We cannot expect it to be otherwise.  We and the people around us come as we are.  Our journey requires shared patience, understanding and kindness on the part of all.  We all learn as we go!

Our lives ensure that we have only a small view of reality.  The universe is too vast, diverse and full of wonder for our limited minds to comprehend.  Its immensity tempts us to feel comfortable in adopting a myopic view while neglecting the grandeur surrounding us.  After all, we all do much more “lab and field” work than classroom lectures.  We tend to see only the trees and not the magnificence of the whole forest.

Still, the patterns of coincidence, gentleness & tenderness in our lives are too striking to be accidental.  It is astonishing to us when we have eyes to see and ears to hear the larger world.  When we do, it’s clear that the universe is giving away all of its secrets in an its ongoing education of us, every one!  Perhaps, especially when we are challenged most.

Quiet desperation had approached, gotten near and then settled squarely in my chest!  It was the day before showing some clients from the State of Washington seven homes.  I had been worried over the past three days that they’d all go under contract.  Now I was checking them one by one.  And, one by one they were showing as being under contract.  I had to search for other options!

Then, in a stroke of an ah-ha moment I thought of the home I had just been given permission to market.  I checked my mental buyer’s wish list and went down each point in sequence.  There was only one conclusion to infer. There was a sequence of events that led to this point.  They were not a coincidence!  They were too striking to be accidental! 

Such instances are astonishing when we have eyes to see and hears to hear.  It is clear that the universe is caring for each one of us by providing an individual, most rigorous education!

Impromptu Magic

Five strangers and a crowded bus.

Impromptu Magic

The bus was full.  Every seat was occupied.  The luggage racks appeared to be over-loaded.  There were people standing in the aisle.  Then, out of the corner of my right eye, I noticed a wheel chair being pushed toward the front door of our crammed shuttle.

A white-haired man had rolled up. He was sitting in an airport courtesy chair and I watched as an airport attendant slowly positioned him close to the open door.  Once stopped, his snow-topped wife, who was standing to his side, made a labored step up and forward.  That single step turned out to be much more than a simple step.  It was an inaudible signal of impromptu magic.

Three young men launched from their seats in active greeting.  One reached for her hand and gently guided her to his former seat.  Another rushed past her to collect the couple’s luggage, while the third showed the skills of a Las Vegas card dealer as he shuffled already stacked bags into a position to accommodate her husband and their added baggage.  Space that wasn’t there moments before seemed to wondrously appear.  I was watching the magic of human kindness.

“Have you come home?”  One of the strangers asked once everyone and everything was settled.

“This is our first leg.”  The seasoned women responded.  “We still need to drive to our home in Rexburg.”

“We’ve been in Austin visiting our daughter.”  Her husband continued.  “Austin is a beautiful city.  But, we’re glad to be home.  We’ve been married and living there for sixty years.  Now, we’re starting our next sixty together!”

His wife sighed a little and showed signs of a faint smile as he was speaking.  She sat quietly, while the rest of her body told the tale of her exhaustion, as the conversation continued past the first stop and on to the next.  The next stop ended the talking and was more boisterous.

The white-haired man used his two walking sticks to stand. He was sitting in an airport parking shuttle and I watched as he and his wife slowly positioned themselves close to the opening door.  Once stopped, his snow-topped wife, who was standing to his side, made an assisted, labored step down and forward.  That single step turned out to be more than a simple step.  It was an inaudible signal.

The same three young men launched into active support.  One reached for her hand and gently guided her until her feet safely reached the parking lot asphalt.  Another rushed past her to collect the couple’s luggage, while the third showed the skills of a Las Vegas card dealer as he shuffled their already stacked bags into a position to leave the bus.  The space they had occupied, space that wasn’t there moments before seemed to wondrously glow as a result of their impromptu magic; the magic of human kindness.