Focus on What You Love 

 

Here it is. I am going into a mode of complete focus. 

 

Let’s focus on what you love. 

 

On what I love and do it with a laser beam look of what is right in front of us. 

 

Any guesses on how to do this? 

 

I will give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. 

 

Ready. 

 

Wait. Take a look at this picture to get into the spirit of the guess that counts. 

 

Okay!  Now, let’s begin. 

What is there to pay attention to here?

Do you see what there is to pay attention to here?

 

First, there is something that this young teenager is focusing on. 

 

Now, these two colorful items took time and attention to detail before they were chosen out of many other possibilities. 

 

I will also tell you that joy and an even bigger grin came into play when the decision was made. 

 

Can you remember a time when you found such joy from items such as these? 

 

Consider that for two minutes. Go ahead. 

Time yourself. It will feel like two hours and yet is part of this moment of focus. 

 

Don’t worry. I’ll wait here for you. 

 

Did you do it? Maybe later, you say.  I hope you do.  Give yourself those two minutes to think about the time you found such joy. 

 

It will be worth it.

Focus on what you love in your world

Now, onto the next piece in this photo you can choose to pay attention to as you focus on what you love in your world. 

 

Do you see that both hands are holding on tightly to these treasures? 

 

You better believe it, sunshine! 

 

The boy in this picture held on tight to what brought joy and then he held that focus with such a laser that it was mesmerizing. 

 

Holy mackerel. It reminds me of the movie, Finding Nemo, when Nemo and Dory are caught in a net full of fish and Nemo gets all the fish to swim down, swim down. You know what happened next, right?  

 

I’ll give you a refresher in case it has slipped your mind. Nemo and Dory are focused and then they get all the others to get focused with him. And then!  Y’all. They are the great rescuers in the scene. 

 

Hooray for Nemo! Sometimes you just keep swimming and others join in. 

 

At times it takes both hands, and fins, to get it done.

 

This is what we found. 

Focus can be hands on

Focus can be a hands on, get in and get with the groove thing. 

 

Finding the love in what we focus on is where we find the next thing to pay attention to in this photo. 

 

Do you see it? 

 

Take a moment. There are few things going on here. 

 

Could it be the seat belt that is being worn a bit underhanded at this moment? 

 

How about the big windows to see the world and all the bright possibilities? 

 

That is a great idea. 

 

I like that one. 

 

Alright. You have looked and looked. 

 

Here it is. 

 

There are two light gray sides to a booster seat that the seat belt slides through. 

 

A-ha! Now do you see it? 

I thought you might. 

 

Here’s the truth. 

This photo was taken almost twenty years ago. 

The boy was becoming

And the boy in this picture was becoming our Tall One. And yet, at this time, he was not tall enough to be in that seat belt without some adjusting and support. 

 

He loved the support this booster gave him. He could feel where the sides were and knew where his tail needed to be when in the car. 

 

This gave him the independence to sit up higher, see out those big windows and into the world as we explored out and about. 

 

What else did we learn from this? 

 

All of us need a boost at times. 

Yes, it is true. 

 

Knowing where our tail sits is outstanding and needed and, I’ll tell you what. 

I also like to sit up tall to see the world around me.  

 

These three simple and apparently easy things to put in place those many years ago have stayed with me even when we did not need a booster in our car any longer. 

The harder things don’t go away

Did you know that when you focus on what you love the harder things don’t go away. 

But they do seem to melt into the good things. 

 

Let me give you an example from this same time and from now. 

 

Right about when this young boy was becoming the Tall One, he was also figuring out that he wanted to become a bunch more independent. 

 

That meant that he did not always want help with things like taking his plate to the dishwasher, cleaning his tv space or taking his meds. 

 

Yes, I know. Sounds like a young teenager. 

It also meant that I would focus on what I loved about newfound independence along with extra spills, and toys, movies and snacks scattered across a movie viewing area. 

 

The spills happened less often, and the independence grew. 

He began to choose where he wanted to put things and organize his own spaces. 

 

It was awesome-saucy to watch happen right before our eyes.

 

It also meant that we worked on giving him more ways to communicate so he could tell us to give him room and, oh bytheway, back off parents. 

What does it mean now?

What does it mean now? 

 

Let’s focus on the big windows to see the world we learned to see more clearly with this Tall One. 

 

Find a way to boost ourselves and, hey, maybe one more person next to us. 

 

I wonder. Is there a way to hold on with both hands to the laser focus we each gather in our own world? 

Perhaps a way to regenerate energy together? 

 

My friends, I do believe that we can, if we choose to. 

What does this look like for you? 

 

Shall we focus on what we love?  I’m here for it with you.