Being Aware
Pilots that fly past their destination airport in Milwaukee. Or, back in 2008, pilots that flew from Honolulu to Hilo, past Hilo with not enough fuel to reach the continent. Fortunately, the latter woke up and turned back. Apparently so did the former too.
These pilots lacked awareness since they were asleep (at least that’s my guess). But we can lack awareness for many other reasons. Walking to my car I was thinking of calling my wife, what I was going to tell her, wondering what to have for dinner, and watching the traffic on the road I was to walk across all as I took my phone out of my back pocket. I fumbled my phone and dropped it - hard - on the brick sideway. My iPhone no longer had it’s usual screen, but only a while screen with abstract black lines.
Lack of attention to the task at hand is the cause of many accidents: cell phone use by drivers, texting while driving a train, dropping a phone. Ram Dass, Timothy Leary’s lab mate, used to say “Be Here Now”. He got that from the old traditions of Buddhism and it’s not bad advice not just for avoiding accidents, but for many things. People who want to loose weight eat less if they pay more attention to their food. I enjoy more and remember more of anything when I pay attention.
In a recent post I talked about adaptation. You can’t adapt if you don’t see changes and new patterns, and you can’t see that if you don’t pay attention. As my wife tells herself - and me, “watch what you’re doing”. I’ve taken it as a westernized version of “be here now”.