There must be so many things that I miss

When I’m sitting in traffic and fuming out loud

Or working to deadlines with eyes on the screen,

But what’s going on in a world that’s so rich

With love and experience woven through life

Like a long golden thread catching the light?

And all we can see is the black and the white,

The brown as it muddies the picture that formed

In the back of our minds, burning a memory

That will be burned on the surface

Like a scorch mark on the palest of skin.

I watched a mini documentary on Netflix yesterday and it was all about concentration and focus, and it taught me a few things about how I see the world.

The basic message that the programme was trying to get across was that humans are generally pretty bad at multi-tasking; we can only really focus on one thing at a time. I always thought that I was good at doing more than one thing at a time, and I realised that actually, this was not true.

For example, I always write while watching TV and I thought that I could do that quite successfully. However, I now see that when I’m focusing on one thing, I absolutely cannot take in what is going on on the screen.

But, worse than that was the realisation that I must miss so much in life because of this. I’m focusing on one thing and missing out on possibly something better. On the show they asked you to focus on something and while you do you completely miss the fact that a gorilla walks into shot.

If I can miss a gorilla tiptoeing across the screen, what wonderful things might I accidentally be missing out on?

I don’t know how we get around this because we are wired this way, but I do know that I should stop going out of my way to zoom in on the negative crap. I guess it’s true that you really can shape your life, just by concentrating on the good stuff.

That’s something to think about whenever I’m moaning about the bad kids in my class next week. Instead, I’ll look very carefully at the remaining twenty kids who are concentrating and enjoying my lesson.

Much Love

Rachel xx