In Plain Sight

I spend a lot of time thinking. In my head. Cognitive. Curious. Following rabbit holes, researching, making sense with models, frameworks, lenses, structures. All of which can be useful, but they can also make us force things into shape, bend reality to fit a lens, or overlook what is already present.

What if all that effort is making us miss what is right there, in plain sight?

Some might say, “Oh, that’s just common sense.” But is it?

A famous example is the gorilla video. People focused on counting passes completely miss the gorilla walking through the scene. Effortful attention can blind us to the obvious.

So here, to start the year, I am keeping it simple. Just noticing what is.