Vision: Part II

The next day I went and bought a pair of goggles for myself, convinced Payton to wear his goggles one more time (this by the way took almost an hour of convincing, by this time he HATED them) got in the water with him and told him to keep his eyes open as we both went under water together. "Just look right at daddy's eyes, Payton, and I'll be looking at your eyes, okay, buddy?" And down we went, him looking at me and me looking at him. So there we were looking at each other under water and the biggest smile I'd ever seen lit up his face. He was so excited that he started to wave his hands at me and I waved back to him. After some time he popped his head out of the water, I came up and with the most excited tone I've ever heard he said, "I can see! I can see! Dad, I can see! Let's go again!" For the next fifteen minutes we just kept going under water and coming up. Finally he put his head under water and proceeded to swim to the other end of the pool, just like that!

What I discovered:
1. Habits that limit us over time become invisible, and we don't even realize that they are limiting us. The habit of closing his eyes under water was so natural, that it rendered a perfectly good tool, goggles, completely useless. Most of us have many resources or "tools" that we don't utilize, not because there's anything wrong with the tools, but simply because our limiting habits will not allow us to use them, and rather than examining ourselves, we blame the tools, the circumstances, the people around us, etc. Certainly we have physical habits that limit us, but what about the habits of thought, the limiting conversations that we have with ourselves from moment to moment. Which brings me to the next point...
2. It takes someone outside of ourselves to point out things that we could never figure out ourselves or would take a lot longer to figure out ourselves. Coaching is important! The truth for all of us is that we all have a blind spot. Physically we have a blind spot, but more importantly when it comes to looking at ourselves we have a blind spot. This is why it is so important that we surround ourselves with people who are willing to be honest with us. Then trust these people, not because they're always right, but because they have a perspective that we do not have. They act like mirrors for us, without the mirrors we could never see ourselves. Having said that since we act as mirrors for each other, let's work dilligently on being accurate mirrors, clear and free of distortion. And finally...
3. Vision gives direction, direction gives purpose, purpose gives activity power and power creates movement towards the vision. What astounded me more than anything was how effective and efficient my son became just by having vision under water. Of course we've worked on his skill since then, and he can actually swim without the aid of a floaty vest. At the time, though, I remember just watching him finally move around the pool rather than splashing water everywhere and going nowhere and thinking how important vision is, not just in swimming but in life.

To sum up, perhaps you find yourself "splashing around and getting nowhere" in the pool called life. Could you become more skilled at what you do? Certainly you can, we all can become better at what we DO. However, consider the possibility that improving your skill without vision would still have you be stuck and going nowhere, you'll just be better at it. :) And perhaps the most important thing you could do for yourself in this moment is to simply OPEN YOUR EYES (of your heart and soul), SEE where it is you want to go and let that be your guide. Until next time...

Live FREE,