Dash of Sass: If You Wanna Change What You SEE, Change What You’re Looking For!

Quotes of the Day:

“What you see depends on what you‘re looking for.” ~Unknown

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” ~Wayne  Dyer

“Most of us go through each day looking for what we saw yesterday. And not surprisingly, that is what we find.” ~James A. Kitchens

“The optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole.” ~Oscar Wilde

The Single Woman Says:

The other day I walked into my usual Starbucks for a day of writing and immediately eagle-eyed my usual table to see if it was empty. Much to my disappointment, it was not. I love this particular table because it’s in the corner, a little away from everything, and not too close to either the door or an air vent (Why must every Starbucks be comparable to an Antarctic igloo?)

I looked over at my usual table, saw someone sitting there, and chose another, far inferior table on the other side of the coffee shop instead. A few moments later, one of my close friends, Anetra, appeared beside me, seemingly out of nowhere. It was SHE that had been sitting at my usual table! And I had not only looked right at her and not realized it was her, I had practically whipped out binoculars to inspect the person who dared take MY favorite table at Starbucks…and STILL didn’t realize it was her. Did I not know it was Anetra because I have lapsed into early senility? No. I didn’t realize it was her because I WASN’T LOOKING FOR HER. And how many times in life do we LOOK at something without truly SEEING it?

My point here is this: As the quote above says, “What you see depends on what you’re looking for.” My experience at Starbucks could not illustrate that point any more. I wasn’t expecting to see Anetra at that time, at that place, at that location…so I didn’t see her. So many people go through life just expecting things to be terrible, they’re not at all shocked when terrible shows up. Bottom line, what you’re looking for is what you’ll see. If you are viewing the world through jaded, pessimistic, cynical eyes, chances are you’ll see hopelessness and unhappiness and darkness everywhere you look. If you are viewing the world through untrusting, doubtful, insecure eyes, chances are you’ll see betrayal and jealousy and backstabbing everywhere you look. But if you are looking at the world through peaceful, hopeful, loving eyes – chances are you’ll see peace and hope and love everywhere you look!

Am I suggesting you go through life with unrealistic, impossibly high expectations? No! I’m simply encouraging you to not look at things without truly SEEING them. Keep your head up, your eyes open, and look for the beauty and the magic and the opportunities for love and happiness and friendship all around you – because THEY ARE THERE.