Wake up!

"Dad!!! I can't find the ketchup"

"Did you actually LOOK in the fridge?"

"Yes...I looked everywhere...are we out of ketchup?"

"No, son, I just bought a new bottle this week... I don't think you're looking hard enough..."

I walk to the fridge. One swift glance and there it was...

"You know, son, if it would have been a snake, it would have bitten you..."

Long before the advent of smartphone addiction, people have been sleeping... Perhaps the amount of personal injuries, assaults, muggings, and lost ketchup bottles could be reduced.

How..?

Wake up!

I'm a people-watcher. I've taught my three children to be people-watchers. I want my children to be acutely aware of the world around them. From time to time, I'll ask my kids as we're sitting enjoying our restaurant appetizer,

"Look over at that table...'who' do you see?"

We engage into a lively profiling discussion. My 15-year old tells the us the couple have been married a lot of years - they haven't looked up from their cob salads in nearly 5 minutes. My 13-year old son adds - he thinks the couple is wealthy : the man's shoes are void of scuffs and his button-down is freshly pressed and he dawns a head of hair perfectly groomed. My 11-year old daughter looks at her two siblings and then me - and then rolls her eyes far into the back of her head...

Do you know the make and model of automobile your neighbor drives? Do you remember people's names when you extend them your right hand? Are you concerned with the ever-growing line that forms behind you at the grocery store check-out because you can't wait to answer a text-message?

Why does any of this matter? I am fully convinced the quality of my life and your life will significantly improve if we all do ONE thing...

...wake up!

Sharp observation is more than a profiling game at dinner. Sharp observation leads to a sounder, more fulfilling quality of life and deeper, more profoundly rewarding relationships.

I make my living by selling. If I don't pay attention to the world and the people around me, my kids don't eat and they're left without their precious Nike Roche sneakers (why did I buy those again?). Coupled with my vocation, I've made a concerted effort over the last year in my personal life to WAKE UP. The results have been rewarding. I WANTED to make it more of a priority to pay attention to the wants and needs of my friends and family. I've admittedly been overly selfish and unaware for most of my life. I'm not perfect - but it matters. It's more difficult to wake up for those in my life whom I find challenging. But it's STILL critical to sharply observe who they are and what they find to be important.

This newer attitude has aided in transforming many of my personal and professional relationships in ways that has made my life richer and deeper. I'm so blessed to be more fully engaged with my children, my friends, and family. I feel it and want more of it. I often pray to God in morning prayers, "God, make me observant to the world around me, make me observant to the people who I love and those I may find hard to love..."

Perhaps we need to open our eyes to the world around us. Maybe it helps us "nail' our next job interview, will allow us to heal a bruised or broken relationship, bring us closer to understanding a co-worker who you suspect is stealing your Greek yogurt from the work-fridge...

speaking of the fridge...

...back to the lost ketchup in the fridge. Maybe it's not that my son couldn't find the ketchup - perhaps it was because he needed a nudge from me to open his eyes, wake up, and teach a lesson in self-sufficiency. Today it's a lost ketchup bottle. Tomorrow it's a marriage saved, a wise investment made, a serious car accident avoided.

YOUR homework this next week :

Make a list of 3 people in your life who you NEED to WAKE UP to... (Yes - I know I ended that sentence in a preposition) Who are they? Sister, brother, spouse, parent, co-worker...?

1.
2.
3.

Then - wake up to them! Ask, serve, observe. Make it better...

Oh - and put down your phone while driving - yes I'm judging you and I'm judging ME...

That's it and that's all.

-Billy