There is so much to SEE!

Sometimes I get caught up....wrapped up, tied up.....and just plain distracted. I buzz around hoping to get to a scrap of paper or napkin in time to write down a new idea, a fabulous quote or a random observation I have made. I bounce from facebook to blogs, to my own website and then let the dogs out. I swirl and twirl and make endless lists of things to do, places to go, emails to return......I just plain get caught up! Then I am caught off guard by a random smile from a passerby and as I am consciously smiling back I wonder if I spend enough time paying attention to the people around me. Not the guy I call hubby....not family or friends, but those random souls I pass in the grocery store....the woman standing next to me as I am pumping gas.

Am I paying enough attention? I spend so much of my time with my head down trying to cross things off of lists that I am starting to wonder if I am missing out on fleeting moments that come and go in the blink of an eye. I wonder if the Universe has given me some great gift or generous little wink that went sadly unnoticed because heaven forbid I forget the Ranch dressing in aisle Four.

Regardless of how we are allowing the world to see us, we are, each one of us, such fragile souls....each of us just hoping to be noticed once in a while. A kind word can change the entire course of a day, a smile from a passer-by can lift a somber mood.....one little random act of kindness has the potential to cause a ripple effect that can ultimately be felt in the tiniest, but most amazing ways by countless recipients.....all because we paid attention.

We notice the girl with the sad eyes who just wanted you to glance her way, but do we really see her? We look at the woman with the magnifying glass who is desperately trying to read the label on a jar of peas but is struggling because her vision just isn't what it used to be, but do we see her? We notice the homeless woman that we have been passing on the street for months now, but do we see her? I can think of so many things I tend to notice on a daily basis, but unless I can stop and actually see what is going on around me, then I wonder what I have let just slip right past me. The true impact of observation is diminished when we don't take the time to feel it, or when something needs to be done and we tell ourselves that somebody else will do it, or when we're just so busy that we don't notice anything special at all.

Every single day I know that I am surrounded by flashes of little miracles, opportunities to reach out to the person standing next to me....snippets of true beauty....and windows of inspiration. But it is only when I slow it all down long enough to see it that I am actually permitting myself to give and receive all of these gifts...

Life is chaos, it is hectic, and dizzying and often feels like a whirling top just spinning out of control. But then, if you're as lucky as I was yesterday you stop just long enough to look outside the kitchen window and see a dozen-ish yellow finches who dropped by to say hello and check out your tomato plants. Teeny tiny little gifts that I would have surely missed if I hadn't stopped to take a breathe from all the madness.

Today is another busy day, you have a to-do list a mile long and 45 things that demand your immediate attention. But I hope that in the middle of it all you will grant yourself time to stop and really SEE. See the people around you who so desperately want your attention, see the changing of the leaves before they completely dry out and return back to dust, see the smallest of miracles...whatever your version of a miracle might be. We are so lucky and so incredibly blessed. We have this big beautiful world in front of us just waiting to be noticed. Today is the perfect day to truly and purposely take a good look around and just allow yourself to SEE.

I wish you a wonderful day of clear and intentional vision!!!

Heather