Why Each Moment Is A Profound Transformation
Keeping bees, attending the garden, minding the baby — these small acts of focusing our attention can change the way we talk, what we talk about, even what we dream. In these moments, we develop keenness in thought, vision, and hearing that pours over into the rest of our experiences because it becomes part of us.
Attentiveness to our experiences can soften the edges around a fixed mindset that sees the world in contrasts of black and white. Instead, letting the new information seep in and color our world with each further incident and reminding us that change is happening all the time all around us. Attuning to details is a microcosm event that can train us to see details in other aspects of our lives.
How would you feel if someone gifted you a beehive for your birthday?
Maybe you don’t like bees, you’re afraid you’ll get stung, or you don’t have time for such a backyard novelty.
Imagine coming home after work, struggling to find time to shower, and now you’ve got these bees. Nonetheless, you are curious about them. You know they are dying off and that they pollinate a third of our global food supply, plus you are fascinated by the persistence with which they pursue pollen. You zip up your beekeeping suit, cover your face, and head out for a hive inspection.
When you pull out the honeycomb, you notice — how the bees, while they seem to be working, are also tending to one another, communicating with the senses of smell and sound. Emitting pheromones and buzzing back and forth.
You leave the hive that day changed. On walks and bike rides, you recognize a new smell and realize the irises that are blooming on your street. How had you never noticed them before? Then you note how the cream-colored flowers smell like vanilla and the purples ones, a hint of grape. Is it that just you, or do they really smell like they look? Does it matter?
The point is that the level of alertness you’ve cultivated while acting as a beekeeper has affected how you hold attention and that awareness has trickled into other areas, like noticing the irises.
This quarantine shift is like seeing the world with new eyes. What are you noticing differently? How does that inform the other areas of your life? To answer these questions, choose one small act, one detail that you focus on every day, and fine-tune your experience with your thoughts, vision, and hearing.
Notice how that level of attention affects what and how you see as you’re on a walk or communicating with a loved one. Look inside the beehive of your life, see what the details are telling you, and notice how that connection can change your view in small moments outside your hive.
Attuning our attention to details sets in motion a level of noticing that spreads into other areas of our lives. Focusing our attention by engaging our thoughts, vision, and hearing and gives us a perspective that has a ripple effect on how we see the world. They become part of us and change us in each moment. It is reminding us that change is inevitable and also a profound transformation that we undergo each day.
