The Blur

6am, before anyone is up, including the sun, this is what my Christmas tree looks like. My vision is clear, but the lights are more beautiful when you let them blur like this. It reminds me to slow down and be here now, appreciating the significance of the blur.

Not The Blur as in the superhero alter ego of Stanley Stewart, living life at lightspeed.

Not a blur as in CENSORED.

The Blur

I’m talking about the blur where you purposely focus on something other than the ultimate goal. The blur like the Magic Eye books where you have to find that sweet spot of intentional not focus in order to see the full picture. The idea is that you have to stop looking at the Thing and allow your focus to fall elsewhere – that is when the magic happens.

There is beauty in the blur. As with my image at the top of this post (today’s Project 31 offering), the lights are brighter and connect when they are blurry, the colorful goodness expanding and smooshing together like love hugs. Isn’t it funny how this happens when we let the distant future, the Far Away fall from our focus and instead focus on the here and now? That is the space between, and when I’m focused on that space between Here and There, the There is out of focus and often more beautiful.

Recovery

Focusing only on the goal without savoring the journey would drive someone insane. That might be literal. The goal has to become The Blur and the journey embraced – my way of doing this is to run the mile I’m in. I see the beautiful blur up ahead and appreciate it as my North Star, but that is all. I’m too busy with each mile to let it distract me.

Try The Blur

Try this today. Holiday lights are an easy way to practice but try it with whatever catches your eye. Let whatever it is fall from focus and see how it looks. What are you focused on instead? How does that change your perspective? Then apply this to intangible aspects of your life.

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