We all sleepwalk. I sleepwalk. You sleepwalk. Not literally.
Here’s what I mean: we sleepwalk through life. We gloss over things. We ignore things. We don’t pay attention.
We don’t do this with intent. We don’t purposefully miss the new carpet our spouse installed yesterday in the front hallway. We just overlook it. We’re focused on something else.
Think of all the things we miss every day of our lives. Beautiful sights, cloud formations, flowers blooming, the way a mountain ridge frames the sky. Scenery is but one of the things we blot out.
Sleepwalking means we’re on automatic pilot regarding many sensations – sights, smells, sounds. Here’s a personal story demonstrating how I never saw something quite simple for years.
Last week, I was sitting in the sauna at our fitness facility. A guy comes in. He walks over to one side, and takes one of those hourglass timers and turns it upside down which allows you 20 minutes before the sand runs out.
I go to him, “How long has that hourglass been in here?”
He goes, “As long as I’ve been coming in here.”
Me: “How long has that been?”
Him: “Oh, over five years.”
Me: “Holy mackerel, I’ve been taking a sauna here for close to eight years, since the facility opened, and I’ve never noticed that hourglass before.”
Not a big thing, but still, shame on me. How can you not see something like that for more than five years? I was sleepwalking, that’s how.
One of the biggest places where we miss out is driving our vehicles. We go so fast and must maintain our attention on other cars, their antics and stupid moves, so it becomes extremely difficult to gaze out the window in wonder at the scenery passing by.
When I bicycled across North America in 1982, one of the biggest takeaways was noticing how much I’d been missing when driving a car. Bicycling caused me to pause and take more in. You’re in the environment on a bicycle, not behind sealed windows. And you go slower, so you absorb more, contemplate more.
Those are good things. That summer allowed me to open my perspective on how I look at many things.
When we sleepwalk, we miss that contemplation time. We’re wound up about something else, our brains ripping along.
Recently, a tornado plowed through the area near our house in Wisconsin. We saw the damage in the woods surrounding our home. There were also some nearby gigantic trees toppled that stood out. That storm was several weeks ago.
Just this past week, I saw two trees downed less than a mile from our house that had to have come from the storm. I never noticed them before. I was sleepwalking. I paid attention this time because my wife was driving and I was able to enjoy the view out the window. “OMG, look at that tree that got ripped down. I never noticed.”
Downed trees materialized because I wasn’t driving. Sometimes that’s all it takes to eliminate sleepwalking. Give yourself some time to look around and enjoy the sights.
Other times you need to activate yourself. Take that step. Breathe. Smell. Look with intention.
Here’s what I mean: we sleepwalk through life. We gloss over things. We ignore things. We don’t pay attention.
We don’t do this with intent. We don’t purposefully miss the new carpet our spouse installed yesterday in the front hallway. We just overlook it. We’re focused on something else.
Think of all the things we miss every day of our lives. Beautiful sights, cloud formations, flowers blooming, the way a mountain ridge frames the sky. Scenery is but one of the things we blot out.
Sleepwalking means we’re on automatic pilot regarding many sensations – sights, smells, sounds. Here’s a personal story demonstrating how I never saw something quite simple for years.
Last week, I was sitting in the sauna at our fitness facility. A guy comes in. He walks over to one side, and takes one of those hourglass timers and turns it upside down which allows you 20 minutes before the sand runs out.
I go to him, “How long has that hourglass been in here?”
He goes, “As long as I’ve been coming in here.”
Me: “How long has that been?”
Him: “Oh, over five years.”
Me: “Holy mackerel, I’ve been taking a sauna here for close to eight years, since the facility opened, and I’ve never noticed that hourglass before.”
Not a big thing, but still, shame on me. How can you not see something like that for more than five years? I was sleepwalking, that’s how.
One of the biggest places where we miss out is driving our vehicles. We go so fast and must maintain our attention on other cars, their antics and stupid moves, so it becomes extremely difficult to gaze out the window in wonder at the scenery passing by.
When I bicycled across North America in 1982, one of the biggest takeaways was noticing how much I’d been missing when driving a car. Bicycling caused me to pause and take more in. You’re in the environment on a bicycle, not behind sealed windows. And you go slower, so you absorb more, contemplate more.
Those are good things. That summer allowed me to open my perspective on how I look at many things.
When we sleepwalk, we miss that contemplation time. We’re wound up about something else, our brains ripping along.
Recently, a tornado plowed through the area near our house in Wisconsin. We saw the damage in the woods surrounding our home. There were also some nearby gigantic trees toppled that stood out. That storm was several weeks ago.
Just this past week, I saw two trees downed less than a mile from our house that had to have come from the storm. I never noticed them before. I was sleepwalking. I paid attention this time because my wife was driving and I was able to enjoy the view out the window. “OMG, look at that tree that got ripped down. I never noticed.”
Downed trees materialized because I wasn’t driving. Sometimes that’s all it takes to eliminate sleepwalking. Give yourself some time to look around and enjoy the sights.
Other times you need to activate yourself. Take that step. Breathe. Smell. Look with intention.
