Out of sight, out of mind

"Out of sight, out of mind." That's a trait I've identified in myself. It's a struggle about which I warn those who love me, or work with me, or expect anything from me. It can send a message of disregard to people I care about, or lack of importance on matters that are actually priorities for me.

I regularly temporarily forget the most valuable.

Long have I envied those who could keep multiple projects going, who can remember to speak on certain topics to someone in a chance encounter, who don't forget one of many driving forces or passions that happen to be on the proverbial back burner.

I have been applauded for my ability to put things out of mind. To that I respond "Hardly." I do not have the ability to put anything out of mind. If that were true, I wouldn't disappear for hours, days, or weeks into something that bothers me, or worries me, or that I know I must tend carefully. What leaves my mind leaves of its own accord. And, by the same token, what stays, stays of its own accord.

That's why I am sympathetic to - and patient with - the 3rd grader who forgets to take his lunch. Or the adult man who leaves his phone at the bank. Or the high school student who comes for a bassoon lesson with his instrument, but without his music bag. Or the young mother who leaves for a week long trip without the children's packed suitcase. Or myself when I miss a rescheduled meeting on yet another icy day of other events I am busy canceling.

It's also why I make lists. Keep a calendar. And then try to remember to reference said lists and calendars.

But, there's also a struggle with "hidden in plain sight." This morning, in clearing off my gigantic and cluttered bulletin board that hangs in plain sight right above my computer screen, I am "finding" notes, and codes, and notices that I haven't noticed in a couple of years. I've been looking at them for two years and haven't seen them in nearly as long. Papers, memos, notes absolutely no longer necessary yet pinned seemingly permanently. Holding valuable space with their insignificance. As these pieces are tossed in the clearing, I see the cork. I see thumbtacks available for the next piece of priority.

Evidently, I need to perform the same exercise with my brain. Clear out the unnecessary, free up space for what matters most.

The way to do that, and the lesson in this for me, I suppose, is deliberateness ... to be deliberate with what I see, with what I do and think. Let my mind and eyes rest on what remains on the board, and to continually strive for awareness with what needs to stay and what needs to be tossed. And, to keep making that list and checking it twice.