What are you missing?

So many things in this life can blind us to the reality around us.   We miss the faults in the one we’re in love with, we miss the good in the ones we hate; greed, evny or ambition can blind us to those we hurt around us, or the happiness we miss out on by barreling through life; an eye patch on a good eye can correct it’s lazy counterpart, blinders on a horse can protect it from spooking.

We all have these blinders in our lives. Sometimes we know they’re there, and welcome them. Some creep up little by little and we don’t even notice. Some, we’ve gotten so used to that we can’t even remember what life was like without them.

Sometimes they are beneficial in the short-term, but never in the long-term (never say never, I know, but I can’t think of any).  We’d have no meaningful relationships if we couldn’t overlook the faults of the ones we love (no one’s perfect), but being completely blind to all faults leads to things like ignoring the abuse of one’s own child at the loved-one’s hand.  A horse made safer by blinders when pulling a cart would be crippled by them trying to navigate a hillside.  A literal blinder on a lazy eye, if left too long, will only create another lazy eye.  

So every once in a while we need to take a step back.  We need to look at our lives, at the relationships we have, at the emotions pervading our daily life, at our list of priorities, at our list of motivations, and maybe even at our physical situation, and see what blinders we have up.  The ones that helped us 5 years ago may be hindering now.  Some may have crept up that do nothing but harm.  We may have some new ones that are actually helpful, but we should note them for future reference, and re-assess them down the road.

Have you taken time to see what you’re missing lately?