“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau
At the end of August I was watching a bumble bee go from flower to flower.
“Hmmm…” I said out loud. I went inside and grabbed a camera. You see, these bees didn’t go inside the flower. They landed on the outside of the flower, did something with their mouths, went off to the next flower, and did the same thing.
Today I mentioned this to a neighbor who used to raise honey bees.
She had no idea what they were doing. She had never seen, nor heard of that happening before.
Now, I grew up around hostas and bumble bees my entire life, and I’d be willing to bet that this particular species of bumble bee is not only doing this behavior in my yard, this year. Yet, it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever seen this.
I have been looking at flowers and bees all my life! But, what had I seen? What do I see?
How much do we really see when we look at things?
If we’re not seeing, how can we ever know – really know? What opportunities for enrichment have we missed?
Spend some time consciously seeing. Not only will innovation opportunities become apparent, your life will become richer.
