Remaining Aware to What Is Around You
When I remarried in 2009, I moved into the condominium of my wife, Carolina. Carolinaâs condominium had 2 bedrooms, one which was for us for sleeping, and the other which she used for storage of various items. Knowing that I had been studying for my coaching certification and was about to embark on my own coaching business, Carolina generously offered me a portion of the spare bedroom to set up what I would need to run my business. In that portion of the room is my work desk, computer, printer, work telephone and area to store my work supplies.
My office space in the home has served me well for 11 years, perhaps no time more than the last few months where all of my work has been exclusively done from that location. Prior to that, while I spent a lot of time in my office, particularly on days when I was not meeting clients face to face, it was not the lifeline it has become now. Given that in person meetings (especially larger group ones) have all gone to online virtual mode, I am in the office far more than before.
Of course the world wide pandemic has impacted a lot more than work lives of individuals. Even their leisure time activities have been impacted. As such, far more time has been spent at home. To fill that time, one needs to find different activities to do so. I have always liked to read, and during this time period, I started out by reading books that I knew I had, that I had previously not had an opportunity to get to. Once completing those, I even ordered a few books online to be delivered to me. While it was obvious that the room that I was in had 4 bookcases, and various books in those bookcases, I had never taken the time to really study what was there. One afternoon, when I was taking a break from my work, (because another thing I have learned is if you are working continually on the computer and donât take breaks periodically you will get very sleepy), I sat on an easy chair in the corner of the room, and began looking at the bookcase. More focused, I began to look at the various books and titles that were in my presence.
As I looked at the books more in depth I realized several of the titles caught my eye. I selected a couple of them from the bookcases. I began reading them in the evening hours when my day was complete of my coaching work. Many were titles that I had heard in the past, may have even had a vague idea of what they were about, but never got into in depth. Now having more limited âentertainment optionsâ in my spare time, and wanting to do something meaningful to me to pass the time, I found myself getting engrossed in the books I was reading.
Many of them had been in the condominium the entire 11 years I had lived there. Most had never left the room. They were always available for me to read at any time I wanted. But, now, because I took the time to focus on their being there, getting interested in the details of the titles, and their messages, etc., I opened myself up to topics and knowledge I never had before.
Often we all get very busy in our day to day lives, focusing on what is important to us at the moment, without being aware of what may be immediately around us. And, while I have often prided myself in being someone who was good at taking in the details around me, I learned that while such a mindset might be true, it was basically focused on areas and topics of which I had an interest. It was not as inclusive as I might have thought.
So, remember, none of us knows everything. We all have something to learn from others around us, and the topics and subjects in which we come into contact. How much we may learn about them, is truly up to us, and our interest in opening ourselves up to learning about the world of which we are a part.
