“My eyes are up here.”

nursing

If we could develop the same laser-like focus in pursuing our goals that this new baby, Sparrow, has managed in only four days of being with us, imagine how successful we could be.

We could rule the world if we could only be a little more single-minded.

Now, of course, obsession really does need to serve the legitimate needs of the person obsessed.

You can’t be obsessed with something wacky and expect a positive outcome.

It never works like that.

But this baby has it going on.  She looks around…I can tell she’s working through figuring this new world out…but when it’s time to get down to business, she doesn’t fool around.

She isn’t distracted.  If she’s hungry, she yells.

That’s pretty darn smart.  She doesn’t come late to a meal because she needs to watch the last 5 minutes of her favorite television show…she doesn’t miss anything because she needs to finish a project of some kind.

She is in the moment all the time.  She lives in the present.

And she fills up our “present”, too.

That’s what I’d call a really powerful “presence”.

I guess that when you get down to it, it really is good to know what you like and to stick with it.

I read a lot about “success” and “right livelihood”.

I guess that what “right livelihood” means is that your vocation fits with your moral code.  You have a way of making a living that doesn’t violate anyone else’s rights or harm anyone else.

I think that part of it, at least the way I’ve been using the phrase in my head, is when your abilities and interests match your job.

If that’s part of the description, Sparrow is a “right livelihood master”.

She is good at her job.  Her abilities suit her needs perfectly.

If I said, “You really suck at your job” it would be one of the few times I could convey that sentiment without it being an insult.

She really does suck at her job.

Maybe it’s a matter of her head not being filled up with a lot of useless extraneous information yet.

She doesn’t wonder about rising or falling home prices, or the price of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving time, or whether the orange groves are going to freeze this year.

She can still focus.  She doesn’t know about Kim Kardashian or even what a “tabloid” is.

She’s like Popeye…she “am what she am and that’s all she am”.  She’s not a pretender or a poser…she’s one of the few truly genuine human beings I know. She lets it all hang out.  She knows what she wants…and when she wants it, all she has to do is yell.

All she really has to worry about is a lag time between the yelling and the eating.

That’s the only worry she has right now.

I guess that things will change as she grows older.

She’ll get “sophisticated” like all the rest of us.

But for now, it’s OK if she sucks at her job.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Sparrow.

 

About Peter Rorvig

I'm a non-practicing artist, a mailman, a husband, a father...not listed in order of importance. I believe that things can always get better....and that things are usually better than we think.

Comments

“My eyes are up here.” — 1 Comment

  1. Love your writing, Peter. So thankful for baby Sparrow. We are trying to get back to “living in the present moment” a bit more, too. Babies ARE the perfect examples.