We Are What We ________

We Are What We ________: (Audio)

We are what we “eat”, “do”, “say”, “focus on”, or “____________”. Of course, you get to fill in the blank. Because this is a truth we know. We become what we commit to our life. Become a car fanatic by spending your time and attention on Detroit and all the magazines, news and pictures about automobiles, and you a “car guy”! You can do the same with sports, health, glamour, fashion, decorating, or running a business. Whether it’s simply trivia, facts or the latest analysis of the _________ (of course, you get to fill in the blank) you become an expert at what you focus on!

We’ve been around those that are an encyclopedia of information of their interest and we grow tired of hearing the recitation of the facts they know! Generally, that’s all they know. The facts they’ve focused on. The remainder of their life is not well known because you cannot get past the recitation of the facts they know!

So. Sum it up.

I was listening to a 5-minute daily podcast this morning, which is something I do to better myself on a daily basis (!),  and this tidbit popped out at me as a fact I know so well.

“We create more of what we focus on.” @DarrenHardy 

This got me to thinking about the surrounding circumstances of our lives.

• What if….what if we spent more focus on creating a happy home, well-adjusted kids, solid career, structured retirement goals, and, of course, our spiritual well-being – instead of chasing after rainbows to find the pot of gold at the ending… I’ve been to the end of a rainbow. There’s no gold!
• What if…what if we turned off the negative reports that slam us from every corner of life? My view? Those negative reports would disappear because there’s no one listening and no one advertising.
• What if…what if we paid attention to our surroundings so that we drove, walked and lived defensively. We could lose that victim mentality because we are situationally aware. If everyone did this, then we would live in a safer world.

Well. The “what if’s” are endless because the opportunities are endless to live better every single day.

As a young school photographer, I learned the importance of controlling my focus on the subject of my viewfinder. It was easy to get lost in what was happening behind the scene as people and things popped into the image. My main go-to camera was a twin lens Yashica D and Yashica MAT 124. I lugged that brick all over the campus and to every away event, along with that humongous battery pack! But flip open the top, look down into the viewfinder, and you could see the potential of what would show on the film.

Eventually, I bought my own 35mm and because I enjoyed the Yashica twin lens, I picked up another Yashica, model TL-E. Well, truth be known, it was all I could afford at the time. 1969, or so, $150.00 was many weeks of savings.

I struggled to learn how to control the speed, light, film settings, etc. in order to make an action picture stand still and not be blurred. Of course, with film an expensive medium provided by the school, and processing your own medium in the darkroom, well, it was a learning process that I spent a lot of time with.

My 35mm light sensor broke not long after purchase, and I learned how to manually stop down the lens aperture and determine if enough light was making it through the lens for the film to be properly exposed. It was another learning process! But, again, I spent a lot of time with the self-imposed lessons and could, to this day, take good pictures with this camera that I still own… Nearly 50 years later! Of course, film is getting harder and harder to come by!

After a while, I lost interest in becoming a professional photographer and eventually enjoyed it as a hobby. But the lessons learned back then make the practice of today easier. Except, new technology continually changes the game.

Here’s my thought today. The history of the things we focused on in our past makes us who we are today. If we could step back in time and change anything, what would we wish that we could do so that we are a better person today? Take a moment. Think about it.

To be better today, what should I have done yesterday?

It’s never too late to start something new. Why? If not for your immediate value, there are others who will see you start, and from that, they learn, you’re never too old to start a new habit or learning curve. If what you continually do into your later years to improve will help the next generation, or two, then I say, “Never quit learning!” There’s always value in improvement. Why? “We are what we focus on!”

Here’s a closing proverb that seals the thought!

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” ~Anonymous Greek Proverb