Noticing & Finding

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the right thing seems to magically appear at the right time? The right piece of advice just when you needed it. A perfectly timed lesson that you can implement on the fly. A spark of inspiration as you’re about to sit down to write.

The first time I experienced this was in grade seven. I was reading Shakespeare for the first time and my English teacher (shout out to the wonderful Mrs. Hubbard!) told us that we could earn a whopping 5 bonus marks each time we identified a Shakespeare reference out in the real world.

At first, I was thrilled. I mean 5 whole bonus points! Who wouldn’t want that?

And then the unfairness of the assignment dawned on me. How was I ever going to find these references? I mean up until a week ago, I’d never even heard of this Shakespeare dude….and now I needed to find five whole references to him. “That’s it”, I thought, “I’m being set up to fail.”

But I didn’t fail. I found those five references. Don’t ask me what they were, because that’s not the lesson that stuck. But one lesson did. 

It’s easier to find what you’re looking for when you know what it is you’re looking for. 

Now there are many different theories on this. Some say that when we know what we’re looking for, we’ve primed our brains to notice relevant things more quickly.

Others believe that this is more like kismet - that things find us when we’re ready to receive them.

Regardless of where you land on this, these instances always provoke a sense of awe in me. I’m struck by just how much is happening around me that I just haven’t noticed – yet. 

It’s not like Shakespeare references only started happening after I read my first play. They’d been there all along. I just finally started noticing them. 

So, what’s something you might benefit from noticing or finding more of?