The law of Focus stipulates that one ought to concentrate on one thing at a time and place a laser sharp focus on the one chosen course of action so as to avoid being bogged down by negativity borne out of carrying a full plate. In as much as one might be skilled at multi-tasking, the likelihood of being a jack of all trades and master of none is significantly increased if one fails to adhere to the law’s dictates. Therefore, err on the side of caution and do one thing at a time even if you love doing everything. In any case, you can easily be pardoned if you assert that you can hardly walk and chew gum at the same time. On the contrary, if you stuff your face and end up vomiting as a result thereof you’re less likely to get sympathy.
Half a decade before the close of the last century, a relative not quite adept at driving landed himself into a ditch. Driving is an activity that demands one’s undivided attention and focus. Skill level notwithstanding, things do happen even to the best of us and not a single soul is immune to such occurrences. However, as will be demonstrated shortly, lack of focus cost him a great deal but luckily enough, he walked away unscathed save for a bruised ego.
The day began like any other and my folks were set to travel to the city. Therefore, we looked forward to their departure and hurriedly completed all assigned chores to the best of our ability. Their impending absence meant that freedom was beckoning and such occurrences were hard to come by. Little did I know what my relative had up his sleeves. Not one to lack ideas, he hid the car keys and yanked them out of his pocket as soon as the folks had left. Shortly before departure, my mother discovered in the nick of time that she didn’t have the keys to her car. However, time was not on their side and this worked to my relative’s advantage. He must have been sweating bullets and heaved a sigh of relief as he watched Dad’s car driving off into the horizon.
No sooner had the dust settled than he took the car out for a spin. In as much as the fuel tank was almost empty that did not deter him from what he had set out to do. In any case, he devised an ingenious way of saving fuel. His plan entailed accelerating and letting the car glide by disengaging the gear. This would have worked well had he been more experienced and had he also not tagged along a number of distractive agents not to mention the boom box radio which proved to be his waterloo. The car did not have a functioning radio system. Therefore, he saw it fit to take the portable one from the house.
A mile or so away, he passed the local shopping center, veered to the right and made towards the water fall used for power generation. The unpaved road had a slight decline and so he seized the opportunity to invoke his ingenious plan. In theory it seemed easy enough but where the rubber meets the road is where the challenge came in. He accelerated and at the point he deemed appropriate to disengage the gear, he took his eyes off the road and attempted to do two things simultaneously all while trying to impress the members of the other gender whom he had tagged along.
He looked at the gear stick as he worked on it and then turned up the music volume. In the process, he lost control of the vehicle and landed in a ditch. He tried to make a course correction by getting back in the middle of the road but landed on the ditch on the opposite side of the road. All this while he kept accelerating instead of slamming on the brakes to get the car to come to a complete stop. As he narrated later, he said confusion got the better of him. This back and forth motion went on two more times until the car got stuck completely. The cloud of dust he left behind was a sight to behold. He got out of the car and walked around in a daze but was fine nonetheless. The same applies to the rest of the occupants. He who chases two rabbits at the same time will catch none best sums this incident. His trip aborted and he failed to impress the ladies but being a charmer, I know he made amends thereafter and found a scapegoat to heap blame on for reasons of expediency. Anyone in his shoes would have done the same.
Interestingly enough is that while all this was taking place, I was glued to the screen watching a popular Sunday afternoon show known as Mahabharata. Sundays were never complete without the show. Unbeknown to many is that the show had several lessons deeply embedded in it. At the time, we were amused by among many things the numerous war scenes. The irony is that the key take away I received from this specific episode was focus. The bird’s eye lesson stood out to me and to this date, whenever I need some inspiration I make reference to that scene.
In the scene, the young boys were called together by their teacher and informed that there was a wooden bird in the tree and that they should take aim since they were being taught about archery. When asked to describe what they saw prior to releasing the arrow, one said he saw the earth, the sky and another one said he saw a bird hidden by leaves. The third boy alluded to the fact that he saw the teacher’s feet, trees and the hidden bird in the leaves. The last boy stated that he could only see the bird’s head. When prodded further, he said he could only see its eye.
The teacher was bedazzled and denoted that he needed to look no further than the feedback he had just received from the last boy. An archer ought to see nothing but his target. Distractions will always be there. However, one ought to keep their eye on the prize. In as much as the teacher was impressed, I too was. In an earlier episode, the boy learnt a thing from his older brother whom he found eating in the dark. He was startled as to how come his brother doesn’t miss his mouth even while eating in the dark. His brother told him that even the hands have eyes and that since the mouth is fixed, why should the hand err? He applied this to archery and hardly missed his target even in the dark as well. If that doesn’t demonstrate focus, tell me what does. Once while out playing with the other kids, he caught a glimpse of the teacher teaching his own son a thing or two about war strategy. Not keen on being left behind, he rushed to the teacher’s side and sought permission to be enjoined in the lesson. He sacrificed his break time and stated that when the teacher is imparting knowledge, it’s not the time to play.
In as far as the link between Karma and Focus is concerned, focusing on too many things at the same time can easily slow one down, lead to frustration and pave the way for negative energy to creep in. One can easily fall prey to engaging in vices that could attract a negative blowback all because of biting more than one can chew. Back in the day, a colleague pushed himself to the limit by taking on two jobs while at the same time pursuing his undergraduate degree. In as much as he meant well and wanted to provide for his family the best way he knew how, he paid the ultimate price and lost more than he gained. In order to let off the steam, he developed a bad habit and imbibed one too many a bottle. As a result, his personality took a turn for the worse and he was constantly in fights both physical and verbal. Within no time his grades suffered and his relationship hang by a thread. I’m more than certain that lack of focus attracted negative karma into his life.
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