An Odd Bird, a Wandering Mind, and Back to the Present Moment

White Cardinal CartoonThe other day, while out on a walk, I saw a odd-looking bird. It appeared to be a white cardinal.

At first I thought it was a cockatoo, but there aren’t any wild ones around here. That’s more Trevor’s part of the world.

As I got closer, I saw that it was indeed a cardinal. It was white, with some pink on its wings.

Here I was, deep in thought about something — a blog post, my new venture, a gag for next week’s strip. Then — snap! — seeing something out of the ordinary yanked me back to the present moment. (What is it with cardinals?)

In the pursuit of success, we can all get tunnel vision — so focused on the goal, that we miss cool things happening all around us.

Sometimes it takes some kind of event to snap us back to reality.

The mind is an amazing tool. So is a reciprocating saw — but it’s wise not to leave it running all the time.

8 comments

  2. Trevor – No problem. You have some amazing pictures over there. I do a bit of bird watching myself, so seeing an aberrant cardinal was very cool. Then I read Christine’s story about her cardinal. Oh, the power of the bird 🙂

  3. So true! Sometimes, all we need is a walk in the park..
    (I decided to do so myself yesterday, but I took a wrong turn and made it a three-hour walk instead of an half hour.. But it was very refreshing. ;-))

  4. Tony, a moment like this often comes once in a lifetime. the fact that you were aware and stopped to savor it says ever so much about you. This post inspired me today.

  5. I agree. In times like these, we definitely need to pause for a moment and enjoy the things around us because we can’t be sure that those things will still be there tomorrow.

  6. Martijn – I can think of a lot worse ways to spend time than a 3-hour walk in the park. Sounds right up my alley 😉

    Robyn – You’re right. There a lot of these moments that we just let fly by without noticing.

    Pamela – Yep. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on the destination, but so much of the trip is about the ride. Taking time to see the sights is half the fun 🙂

  7. That’s true. Sometimes it’s even too late to realize that we missed something nice because we were too busy thinking about ideas. This should be a good reminder for us that we should be aware of the good things around us.

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