Pause and Stare

As I grow older I have noticed that I make more ‘mistakes’. It seems to be an exponential rate of speed and frequency. These mistakes are not the errors I made on quizzes or tests in a previous life, though I’m fairly certain those mistakes have increased as well. No, these mistakes would more accurately fall into the category of slip ups, blunders and oversights. Perhaps an example would help.

When I have driven my truck to a particular destination and intend to ‘detruck’; if we can ‘deplane’, should we not be able to ‘detruck’? But I digress. Since I normally want my truck to be locked while I enter a store, I generally hop out (that’s a misnomer,since I no longer ‘hop’), flip the switch on the door and proceed into the retailer of my choice. It is at this point in the past where my ‘heart would skip a beat’ fearing I had locked my keys in the truck. A couple times in the past few years my greatest fear became a reality.

I’ve asked myself why does this occur more frequently than in the past. I have come up with a couple reasons for the uptick in frequency:
1. It’s to easy to do
2. I’m older with fewer brain cells
3. For some unknown reason I’m in a hurry

But, as you might expect, I have a solution. It’s not a brilliant solution, which no doubt surprises some of you with even fewer brain cells. No, it is not brilliant, but rather extremely simple. Most superlative solutions are simple in nature. The solution I have been using is ‘slow down’. This is rather simple for us “elderly” people. As a demonstration of how slowing down works, I’ll refer back to my ‘detrucking’. I remove the keys from the ignition, open my door, step out of the truck, and just before I push the lock button I stop, stare at the keys in my hand, push the button, and proceed to my destination. The secret is the ‘pause & stare’ prior to hitting the button. In order to become proficient you must practice.

The technique also works if you decide to go from your kitchen to your den to retrieve something from the den that really belongs in the kitchen. It happens! Before taking your first step from the kitchen to the den, that’s right, ‘pause and stare’. In this case you will have nothing to actually stare at! However, you must ‘pause and stare’ at the mental image of that which you wish to retrieve. I never said this was easy.

I’m sure while reading this you’ve thought about opportunities for using this technique. However, by the time you’ve finished reading you have forgotten what these were. Correct? What should you have done when the use of this brilliant technique popped into your mind. ‘Pause and Stare’...I do think you’ve got it.

jim
4/23/2010