When You Stop Seeing the Forest for the Trees

As I said before, I'm in Trinidad and Tobago right now, the "home" of Carnival as they like to say down here. It's only two days long - 15 and 16 February 2010 - not the week-long Brazilian affair.

And all the fetes (parties) leading up to those two days from mid-January culminate in these two days of carnival on the streets.

Anyway, I was recently admiring a Carnival Queen costume from one of the carnival band leaders here and realised I couldn't seem to take it all in. 

The costume was so large and imposing and it had so much detail that I just couldn't see it! It's only when I spontaneously decided to concentrate on one section at a time that I began to see the entire costume.

Has that ever happened to you, and more importantly, do you know what to do when it occurs? Because this is what happens when you stop seeing the forest for the trees!

For example, there's an issue that you have to deal with but people's emotions obscure the issue which means you can't get through to them.

Far too many people either shy away from the issue - to avoid confrontation -  or let themselves get caught up in another's emotional story, then blame the other person afterwards. You're secretly blaming yourself, just so you know.

It is easy to get "caught up" in other people's stuff when you are blind to what is and by that I mean, not focussing on the issue at hand. Always remember, it takes two to argue, in the same way it takes two hands to clap.

I felt joyful, yes, that's the word, joyful, about this sudden clarity of understanding because this wonderful aha! moment applies to everything in life and I wanted to share it right away.

I hope I've contributed to your clarity of vision in a small way.

I would love to hear from you. Drop me a line and let me know what seemingly simple, everyday thing suddenly stopped you in your tracks and made you take notice of the reality as it is.