Gazing

038, originally uploaded by diahn.

I find myself, sometimes, gazing so intensely at a problem that I can't see the solution. It's kind of like trying to find a faint constellation in the night sky - I look right where it is supposed to be and I can't see it, even though I know it is RIGHT there.

The key to constellation gazing is, of course, staring a little to the left or right of the actual location and letting your peripheral vision take over - suddenly the faintest of stars are clear and bright. It's the same thing with the problems and decisions we have to deal with every day. The harder we look at the problem, the harder it is to see the solution, even when you KNOW it is right there.

I've faced that recently in my own life. I had a decision to make and the answer was right in front of me and I couldn't for the life of me find it. I stared as intensely as D is in this picture, and it wasn't until I took my eyes off of it that the answer was clear. Part of the problem is usually that we are looking so closely at ourselves that we can't see what's going on around us, and that was the issue I was having. In making the "problem" all about me, I had lost sight of the solution and what was important.

It's another perspective thing, I guess. Maybe I should go back and edit the post where I claimed to have that perspective thing down pat. Apparently, I don't.

Now, if I could just find a way to apply this to chocolate - for some reason, my vision of chocolate becomes clearer the more I stare at it. And then it speaks to me. And then...

...well...I have to eat the problem...