PAY ATTENTION!

Small onions - “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

A funny story circulated recently about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle evidently told of a time when he hailed a taxi in Paris. Before he could utter a word, the driver turned to him and asked, "Where can I take you, Mr. Doyle?"

Doyle was flabbergasted. He asked the driver if he had ever seen him before.

"No, sir," the driver responded, "I have never seen you before." Then he explained: "This morning's paper had a story about you being on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who return from Marseilles always arrive. Your skin color tells me you have been on vacation. The ink spot on your right index finger suggests to me that you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French. Adding up all those pieces of information, I deduced that you are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

"This is truly amazing!" the writer exclaimed. "You are a real-life counterpart to my fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes!"

"There is one other thing," the driver said.

"What is that?"

"Your name is on the front of your suitcase."

Perhaps the driver was no master detective, but he was observant! He paid attention, and paying attention is an important part of living fully.

"Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments," Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy aptly said. A life lived to the full is lived from moment to moment, rather than from milestone to milestone. It is more of a series of days in which we truly pay attention, than a few major events along the way.

Speaker Alan Loy McGinnis tells of a New York City sculptor named Louise. She lived in one of the most dilapidated neighborhoods of the city. But, by paying attention to her surroundings, she found endless beauty and inspiration. She marveled at the elegance in the varying patterns of the sun and the moon reflected on tenement windows. In an object as ordinary as a chair she could see something extraordinary. "The chair isn't so hot," she once pointed out, "but look at its
shadow." By paying attention, she was able to see what others might miss.

Pay attention! To the things of life. To people. To events. To your senses. Even to the ordinary. Pay attention to the moments and your life will never lack beauty and splendor. By making the most of the moments, you make the most of the years.

From Lifesupport.