20/20 Vision

a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity: The need to prevent a nuclear war became the focus of all diplomatic efforts.

focus

It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means… today is Truth Be Told Tuesday. Thanks for checking in.

I planned to write about the Bible character Lazarus, Emma Lazarus, and the song; “Lazarus Heart.” I was going to talk about restoration, redemption and resurrection. I changed my mind. And unlike the week I intended to speak about “freedom” and chose not to, only to weave freedom in at the end, there will be no tidy bow at the end wrapping restoration, redemption, and resurrection together.

The Raising of Lazarus – Vincent Van Gogh (1890)

Maybe next week.

What I want to talk about are lazy raining weekends, romantic movies, and what we choose to focus upon. This past Saturday some of you read my posts as I chronicled my day laying in bed and watching movies… watching movies all day I might add. I began with “For The Love of The Game” followed by “Autumn in New York”, “The Story of Us”, “The Tree of life” (don’t watch… terrible), “Crazy Heart” and finished with “The Pope of Greenwich Village.”

Crazy Heart – Jeff Bridges

As I watched each movie I began to realize a few observations.

My first finding while eating cold pizza, drinking a glass of red wine at 10:35 in the morning, and watching more than a few romantic comedies was that I was brought in touch with my Parisian female side. It was liberating and a little unnerving at the same time seeing that all of those experiences were a first for me.

I always wanted to be a French woman!

Portrait of Francoise, 1946 – by Picasso

Anyway, my second observation was a little less traumatic as I noticed attractive women “Love” rich and charming older men, and being good looking doesn’t hurt a man’s cause either. I know, shocker.

My final observation pointed to the fact that elegant and classy men wear tailored tuxes and “tank” watches that cost around 7-10 grand. They do not, and I repeat, they do not wear watches the size of stop signs. Only rappers, ball players, and wanna be “playas,” posers as I like to refer to them as, in the suburbs where these types of watches.

Classic & Timeless

Not gentlemen.

Oh, one more observation, an attractive man is well dressed, well versed, can cook and has the gift of using the right word at the right time. Oh yea, they have great taste in music and are single too, or gay, as my wife’s best friend responded on Facebook said.

Only in Hollywood.

BTW, if I could be one man it would be Cary Grant. No one else even comes close.

Cary Grant (GQ September – 1962)

OK, I’m done.

I feel so much better. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw with out the Vera Wang shoes.

In the end, what stuck out to me was the freedom that my family, mainly my wife, gave me to just be me. They allowed me to me, whoever that is and was that day.

I came to the realization that what we choose to focus on can have a wonderful or destructive outcome.

Our focus can save or destroy our families, relationships and our lives. When we choose to look at something in our spouse, friend or mate that is all that we tend to see. It’s like when we buy a new car and suddenly that is the only car we see on the road. We never noticed that type/model of car with any regularity before, now we see it all the time.

The same is true when decide to look at only the negative(s) concerning another person.

When we decide to engage in this type of behavior what we choose to see is all that we will see. The good news is that we can decide to go the opposite route and take notice of all that is good and positive.

It’s more peaceful that way, and it’s much easier on the relationship.

No one is implying that there aren’t any negatives involved; I just don’t think it’s a good idea to hang your hat on that hook. I’m glad my “best friend,” my wife, chooses to look at; applaud, what is good in me and not constantly criticism me on what needs to change within me.

My Wife

Because of this I’m a blessed man.

Finally, what I choose to focus on will have a lot to do with the joy or misery I entertain in my life. And what I decide to look for has a funny way of finding itself within me. When I look for the bad, the negative and the disappointing my life sadly begins to reflect those qualities, but as I search for the positive, the encouraging, and the joy, all the while walking the path that is called reality, that is where discernment comes in, then my life magically becomes better.

It’s like going to the eye doctor. When everything is out of focus the quality of what I’m seeing is poor, but when we look through the “proper” lens, and our focus becomes a 100% good, then we are able to see all the beauty around us.

Remain, or begin, to focus on the “great” things in life, and as always, “Be ENCOURAGED.”

That is my “Truth Be Told” for July 9, 2013 (tbtt . #13)

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