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Nonsense
side-tracks
you from your work,
tricks you into wrong decisions and trips you short of your goals.

Nonsense
stops you from

being successful.
 

July 2007

Making shift happen... in the African Bush

One lesson I learned in Africa is how to see a camouflaged animal in the bush. Here’s how it’s done: Look at the bush where you suspect an animal is hiding. Now shift your focus as if you are looking beyond the bush into the distance. Look through the bush as if the bush is not there. If you do this correctly, the bush will go out of focus and even ‘disappear’ (at least in your mind’s eye). Now rock your head slowly from side to side without taking your eye off that imaginary spot in the distance. With some practice, and a bit of luck, you will become quite good at making out any form that is lurking there.

I did not need this skill to see the lioness who charged us during a walking safari in the African bush. I had no need to rock my head from side to side – it was already shaking. And so were my legs. I think that the reason we survived her charge is that she was flabbergasted by the effect she had on us, the city-slickers. (You can see more pictures on the book website showing how the African bush taught my legs to move rapidly because I had not yet learned to see properly.)

I never expected to find this jungle skill of any use in the city, but I do. I use it to see the sense in nonsense. Whenever I bump into what seems to me to be a well-camouflaged bit of nonsense, I stare right through it and rock my head from side to side. (Another trick I have learned is not to be put off by people staring at me and rocking their heads from side to side.)

I call this staring and rocking ‘making shift happen’. The staring and rocking creates a shift in perception that helps you to see differently (left-brain, right-brain, left-brain, right-brain). Seeing differently tends to change the way you respond to what you are seeing. In other words, it creates a shift in behavior.

Why do shifts matter? In today’s world, things change rather fast. What you may think is sense today might very well be nonsense tomorrow. It makes little sense to get caught up in the ‘what-is-now’ (the bush) and to ignore the ‘what-can-be’ (the camouflaged animal). If you are stuck in the ‘what-is-now’ you tend to see obstacles and limitations. On the other hand, if you anticipate the ‘what-can-be’ you often see opportunities and abundance.

It takes a shift in perception to see clearly; responding appropriately takes a shift in behavior. Mostly, it takes a shift away from nonsense.
 

Welcome to our side of the nonsense divide.