Put Your Head On A Swivel!

Yesterday our neighborhood was "treated" to a scene that is, on a normal basis, only viewed in theaters.  I did not witness it myself, but a high speed police chase passed right down our street.  The suspect vehicle was being pursued by undercover officers, and soon thereafter, marked police vehicles joined the chase.  I was speaking to my brother and commented on how the vehicle was racing down a major street, and while the driver did not hit anyone, he presumably blew right through a four way stop.  I mentioned how I never take off when the signal lights turn green, as it seems like every day now; vehicles still pass through the light even seconds after their light has already turned red.  He said "your head always has to be on a swivel".


A swivel is a device that allows an object to turn side to side, up and down and even in a complete circle.  I am a people watcher by nature, so I constantly see people driving and walking with their heads straight forward, seldom looking from side to side.  Many times, they are the ones that you see on the news saying, "I never saw the car coming until it hit me!" This constantly takes place, even though, when we learned to drive, we were all taught to keep our eyes moving from side to side, behind us and of course up ahead.

This made me think about how we sometimes approach life.  Many times we go through life unfocused and paying little attention to our surroundings.  We are shocked when our health, our finances, relationships or employment status gets sideswiped.  Perhaps we would have seen it coming had our heads been on a swivel.  Perhaps if we would have paid attention, we would have noticed that we weren't feeling as well as before, our money wasn't stretching as far, that relationship seemed strained, or that the company had been downsizing for years.  Many times our neighborhoods deteriorate right in front of us, but we were completely oblivious to the change.

Too often we stumble through life just looking at what is right in front of us and not paying any attention to our past mistakes, the future that lies ahead of us, or the side road that could lead us in a totally different direction.  We sometimes miss out on opportunities because we didn't see the open door as we focused on our current situation. We could literally find ourselves in a traffic accident simply because when the light turned green, we accelerated, without looking!

Today's point is simple; go put your head and your eyes on a swivel.  Take a look around and analyze life from your current vantage point.  Take stock in where you are and where it is you are going.  Perhaps you will see some things that you have never noticed before.  Maybe you will avoid a serious financial or health problem by noticing the signs early.  And of course, when you are driving, please wait and look both ways before you take off!

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ps-It has cooled down a bit now, so maybe now is a good time to go back and read this:   http://jonathanpantages.blogspot.com/2013/06/it-june-in-fresno-of-course-it-hot.html