Thursday, April 12, 2012

Whatchu Lookin' At?

I recently had an odd experience while walking my dog. We were in the back yard playing fetch with her favorite ball when I threw it and it bounced off a birdbath and ricocheted into a flower bed. My dog proceeded to run around, sniffing, and looking (unsuccessfully) for the ball in the wrong part of the yard.

She's not the smartest dog (we refer to her as our "special needs dog"), so wanting to help her out, I walked over to her, got her attention, and energetically pointed to the bushes where the ball was saying "Look!"

Well, she looked alright. At my pointing finger.

Over and over again. Me saying "Look! Get it! There it is!" followed by my dog, consistently, keeping a laser-fixed stare at my finger.

I realized that the action of my hand/finger moving towards the target (her favorite ball) actually distracted from her prize. She was so fixated by my pointing, she failed to see the more important thing I was pointing at.

Then I thought how people sometimes get the same way. Instead of looking at the valuable prize (wisdom, insights, etc.) we often get so enamored with the pointer (a brilliant expert, a dynamic speaker, etc.), we miss what they are working so hard to point towards.

Bottom line: Those people/things in our lives that provide direction are usually not the answer. They are merely pointing to the answer. It is up to us to look in the right direction for the actual insight itself. If we fail to do this, we will fail to get that prize we ultimately desire in life.

And it's almost always better than a slobbery old ball.

So, where are YOU looking these days?

Think about it. But more importantly, do something about it...today!

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