Bright Spots

Bad quality photo of a House Finch. Image: My own

DO you choose to focus on bright spots or greyness?

First off, my apologies for posting this rather mediocre picture of a house finch but like most amateur photographers, I’m rather proud of ‘first time encounters’. I feel immensely flattered when birds, which are extremely jittery by nature, allow me to get closer to them and stay put without flying away. It somehow seems like they are paying me a compliment. This beautiful finch stood out amidst the greenery against the backdrop a grey, bored sky. Can you spot it?

I suppose what I saw was the pink-red of the finch and the greenery rather than the all-pervading greyness. My eyes chose to focus on them rather than the more pervasive dull sky. If I’d chosen to focus on the sky, all I’d have managed was a boring and colorless picture.

I’ve always attempted o apply this philosophy to life as well. How well we tackle life issues depends on what we choose to focus on: the bright spots of color—however small they may seem at the moment—or what seems like endless greyness. The more you focus on those tiny spots of color, the more they grow, slowly destroying the bleakness surrounding them. And suddenly, life is colorful again. It almost seems like we manifest what we focus on, doesn’t it?

The best way to make the greyness go away, then, is to simply not focus on it. There’s no need to make a massive effort. Just accepting that it exists helps you to ignore it. And the more you ignore it, the weaker it becomes, until it finally disappears. So keep focusing on all the bright spots in your life and they will grow exponentially, making most ‘problems’ seem small and insignificant.

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