Do you ever have the feeling that no matter how hard you look for something or try to figure out a puzzle that you are just missing It? Don't read this blog if you are looking for three easy steps to breakthroughs. Someone else has or surely will write that blog and you my friend will be disappointed because navigating those moments or years in life cannot be prescribed in three easy steps. If you stay with your challenge long enough you can experience the amusement, excitement, and/or pleasure of finally getting It - whatever your It is. Although I said there are not three easy steps to follow, there are five traits you must be open to developing otherwise your It will elude you your entire life. Unless of course your It is just your glasses and you find them on your own head.
I had looked twice and that was not enough, finding my glasses took persistence. I had to be willing to go back again over the same ground and try something slightly different. I had to believe that I could find them. If I had given up on the second try and failed to believe in my ability to find them, I would have had to just sit down, cave-in, and wait for someone else to bail me out. While I waited and moped, my spirit would have shriveled a little bit with every passing moment. I would have missed spotting the moose that emerged from the willows on the opposite side of the swake, nibbling on all the tender shoots for about ten minutes before disappearing into the trees. I would have missed that moment of wonder when the moose actually disappeared. One moment he was out in the front of the willow bushes and the next he had vanished. If you had been sitting with me watching and I had alerted you to the moose right at that moment, you would have though I had lost my mind along with my glasses. You see, the vanishing was so complete and instant, that from afar no one else would have believed it if they hadn't seen it too.
Humour & Humility
I confess to losing my glasses more frequently as I get older. Sometimes I lose them only to find them perched on my head. That has happened enough times that I have learned to reach up and check the top of my head before blurting out that I can't find my glasses. My eyesight has deteriorated enough that I have progressive lenses that allow me to see oncoming vehicles and read my speedometer. There is another set of glasses beside the computer that I switch to when I write the blog and work. Funny it just struck me that I separated the blog from work - we will travel down that path another time. Back to the glasses thing. When I am looking for my glasses I have learned to maintain a sense of humour and humility.
It used to frustrate me when I lost my glasses and when I was frustrated I was not open to laughing at my predicament or asking for help. However, I have discovered that I find my glasses much more quickly when I am willing to maintain my sense of humour and when I set aside my pride and ask Greg if he has seen my glasses. As you might imagine when I ask that question I am opening myself up to the possibility of being teased albeit in a kind way. I lost my glasses again last week when no one else was around to help. No amount of humour or humility was going to help those glasses find their way back to my nose.
Creativity
When your eyesight or in the case of life your perspective is impaired, you have to shake things up with a little creativity. If you are reading and thinking you don't have a single sliver of creativity in your entire body so you might as well just give up and quit reading - don't give up. Keep reading. All of us were born with creativity of some sort. But we have put such ridiculous expectations around creativity that we fail to realize all the seemingly insignificant ways we are creative every day. Back to the case of the lost glasses. I patted the top of my head and they weren't there. I assessed my situation and realized It was up to me. No one else was there to help and I was going to have to get creative. I checked the places that I leave them most frequently. They weren't in the bathroom or the living room; they weren't on the nightstand or the desk. Slowly and methodically in my half-blind state I went through the house looking as best I could and patting surfaces. Finally I was back in the kitchen where I started the search. I stood back from the counters looking from different angles trying different lighting options. Finally I resorted to placing my arms flat on the counters and sweeping the countertops with my arms. Honestly, I was quite relieved to have been on my own at that point because I am quite sure I looked ridiculous. However, voila! There were my glasses. They were so effectively camouflaged by the countertop that I dare say someone with 20/20 vision might have had to look twice.
Persistence & Belief
I had looked twice and that was not enough, finding my glasses took persistence. I had to be willing to go back again over the same ground and try something slightly different. I had to believe that I could find them. If I had given up on the second try and failed to believe in my ability to find them, I would have had to just sit down, cave-in, and wait for someone else to bail me out. While I waited and moped, my spirit would have shriveled a little bit with every passing moment. I would have missed spotting the moose that emerged from the willows on the opposite side of the swake, nibbling on all the tender shoots for about ten minutes before disappearing into the trees. I would have missed that moment of wonder when the moose actually disappeared. One moment he was out in the front of the willow bushes and the next he had vanished. If you had been sitting with me watching and I had alerted you to the moose right at that moment, you would have though I had lost my mind along with my glasses. You see, the vanishing was so complete and instant, that from afar no one else would have believed it if they hadn't seen it too.
So you have to hold onto belief. If that seems impossible, start with baby steps. Whatever your It is, believe in yourself. Believe you are capable of humour, humility, and creativity then go and demonstrate those capabilities with persistence in pursuit of your It. You will be amazed by the things you find in life that you were looking for and the things you find that you never thought to look for. You will be delighted at the puzzles you solve and the new puzzles that present themselves. You will surely laugh heartily at yourself, connect with others more authentically, and figure out a few of your Its.
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