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One major reason a lot of people are limited in life, can’t make full use of their gifts and talents, and are probably settling for less than they deserve is the lack of vision. And this comes from their inability to harness the organs of sight life has given to every one of us. And the truth is: you cannot create or pursue what you cannot see or conceive in your mind.
The good news is that every problem has a solution. In this article, we will explore the organs of sight and how you can use them to solve problems and see things other people cannot see. We will also talk about creativity and the things you can do to optimize your creative space.
Let’s begin by looking at life’s organs of sight.
The Organs of Sight
According to science, the only sensory organ specifically designed for sight is the eye. But according to life, there are two powerful the eye and the mind (which incorporates the brain as well) are two of the most powerful organs of sight.
Vision is limited when we think of it as a function of the eye only. This is because the eye doesn’t work alone. You need your brain and your mind to interpret and understand whatever your eye downloads. So it’s not just about what you see, it’s also about how you interpret what you see.
We’ve already discussed how this works in details in the Knowledge effect so let’s just consider one example.
If the first Apple smartphone you buy happens to be a bad one, you’ll likely conclude that Apple doesn’t make good smartphones. Right?
Now let’s consider your reaction the next time you see an Apple smartphone. This will help you understand that when it comes to life and human behaviour, sight is never merely a function of the eyes.
Let’s imagine that someday you walk into a store with your friend and she beckons you towards an iPhone. Here is what happens: at first your eye pictures a smartphone and sends it to your brain. There are no problems yet and the phone may even look good. But then the brain brings it to mind and you suddenly remember when you bought an Apple smartphone that turned out bad. At that point, even when they are good phones, you are likely going to see the iPhone as a bad phone because of the experience you had with the first iPhone you bought.
At that point, both of you (you and your friend) may be looking at the same thing but processing different interpretations of what you are seeing based on the knowledge and experiences you’ve had.
You’ll both be looking at the same iPhone but seeing different things.
If I may add another example, the way a married woman sees a man is different from the way a teenager sees a cute guy who lives across the street. What they know greatly impacts what they see.
Sight is not just a function of the eye. It also involves the brain and the mind. What we have in our heads greatly affects how we see things.
Think about this quote from C. S. Lewis:
“He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods; the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted.” – C. S. LEWIS.
How what you know affects what you see
So many times in life when you stop to think about things, you see that vision is greatly affected by knowledge and understanding.
This vision is not just what the eye sees when it wakes up in the morning. This vision includes everything from what your eyes can see to what your brain can imagine, even the things you think of about other people.
We could write a book on all of that, but let’s focus on how what you see affects who you become. How does your sight affect what you aim for in life? Let’s consider an example that will give us a broader view of what we are looking at here. I recommend you keep an open mind as go deeper.
Sitting in the Redeemed Christian Church of God in an evening service, pastor Harry Udoh, speaking on the topic “Command Your Destiny,” asked a question. The kind of question I’ve been pondering on for a good part of my adult life. The question was, “What do you see?”
He quickly followed up with an outstanding example: the story of David and Goliath.
David went to the war zone taking food and other necessities to his brothers. But when he got there he learned there was a Philistine named Goliath who had presented a challenge to the Israelites. Goliath asked for a soldier from Israel to fight him.
If Goliath wins the fight, the Israelites would become their slaves but if he loses, then the Israelites would take the Philistines as prisoners. Goliath was a giant, the strongest soldier in the Philistine army and as it appeared, there was no other soldier at the time who could defeat him.
So many things went through the minds of the Israelites. Nobody thought this man could be beaten. They couldn’t see beyond the normal.
But suddenly, David shows up. According to Pastor Harry, David saw Goliath, but then he saw something bigger which made him decide to fight the man – He saw the covenant God had made with the people of Isreal. He saw God and he knew that there was no way a mere man was going to withstand the power of the Most High. That alone won the battle before it began.
It dawned on me. The reason I worry about battles is that I see myself fighting them. The moment I start seeing God winning the battle already, the way I approach and think about everything changes. That’s the power of “vision.”
So, “what do you see?”
This article, in some way, complements the article on Keep Your Head Above Water. If you haven’t read that, I suggest you do so. It will help you understand this more. Let’s get into the main ideas of this article.
You can’t chase what you cannot see
We all have dreams to become great. We want to touch lives, change the world, create things, solve a problem, change our lives, achieve our dreams, and fulfill our destiny.
But there’s one thing I’ve learned in life. It is the fact that: you cannot chase what you cannot see. This is also the reason you must learn to keep your head above water, at all cost. I imagine: how do you follow after what you can’t behold?
At the simplest level, your vision of a particular thing reveals two important things: The nature and the position of the object.
The position lets you know how far away you are from the object and what it will take for you to reach it.
The nature of the object shows you what it looks like, what it’s made of, and what it will take for you to retrieve or capture what you see.
Let us go further.
Friend, what do you see? What you see determines how you function. It determines how you go about life.
Right now a lot of dreams have been buried. Many great men are walking about as ordinary men because they’ve lost their sight.
Ever since I realized how what I see affects what I do, how it affects how I function, I’ve always been working on sharpening my sight. But it’s not the natural eyes that I work on, it’s the mental eye and the spiritual eyes.
These are the things that impact what I know. They are the things that make deposits to your mind. If you want to change your life, start working on what you know. What you know affects what you think, it affects how you think, it affects what you imagine and ultimately, it affects what you see.
You can’t chase what you don’t see and that is why a lot of living men are walking around with dead dreams.
Again I ask: What do you see?
Many people wouldn’t make silly choices and ruin their lives if only they could see the greatness in them. The choice you make if you see yourself as a potential CEO is different from the choice you make when all you can think of is luck; when all you can do is wish.
The choices you make when you see possibility are different from the choices you make when all you see is an impossibility.
If you ever want to find yourself in a good place in future, you have to start seeing what you want to have. You’ve got to set your eyes on it, otherwise, you will do nothing to get there and consequently, you will never get there.
What do you see when you have a problem? Do you see the fact that everything has a solution or do you simply conclude that the worst has happened? What you see will determine how you react. It will determine if you think or worry. Even when you can’t see a solution, simply focusing your mind on the possibility of a solution will make ideas to start flowing.
What are you seeing in your mind’s eye? What are you focusing your mind on? Are you focusing on good things or the worst things?
Let us consider two cases of sight.
The sight of:
1. A big dream or project
Many people do not reach out for great things because they do not see greatness. They can’t build companies because they never see themselves doing so. They can’t create things because they never see them.
They can’t write books, compose songs, or create new designs because they never see themselves doing so.
So whatever potential they have in them remains dormant because they can’t see or work towards anything. These people may end up living a life of regret. These are the talented people that end up enduring a lifetime of abuse under ordinary folks in life. Because they couldn’t see big, couldn’t dream big, couldn’t think big.
Dreams don’t always have to be so big. But whatever the case may be, we all dream of a future of living independently and intentionally. Whatever your dreams are within that context, you have to see it and go for it or you may never have it.
Wishing won’t do it. Prophecies won’t do it if you are not focused and determined to get what you see.
Starting today, dream big. Fix your eyes on that big dream or prophecy. Think of ways to achieve them. Work every day to achieve your dreams. That is the only way to arrive at a future where you can live independently and intentionally.
See a big dream, but see the little steps as well
It’s tempting to just give up on dreams when you can’t break them into parts. You may resign and think it’s impossible if you can’t see the little steps you can take to achieve that dream.
You have to think of little steps you can take.
When you get a big dream, try to break it into parts. Everything has a starting point. If it’s a career, thinking of how big it is can be scary. What will help you to see things better is the little things you can do to achieve your goal. For example, getting educated in the disciplines needed for that career.
You need to look for ideas you can implement so you can get yourself closer to your goals.
If it is a company, think of the things you can do to raise funds, jobs you can work, or smaller things you can start, to position yourself properly for the big thing.
Everyone starts somewhere. So, see your dreams, and also see the things you can do to achieve them. Then start working every day on the things you see. This will keep you from giving up on your dreams.
2. The sight of a possible solution
Many people do crazy things because of the pictures they have in their minds or heads. When there’s a problem, what do you see?
Do you see the possibility of a solution?
Do you see that there will come a time when it will be a thing of the past?
Do you see God bigger than the problem or do you simply conclude that it’s the end of the world?
And it all boils down to what you know. So, what do you know? Because it’s what you see in your mind’s eye.
Make the decision to take in as much as possible. Read books, learn new skills, surround yourself with great minds, listen to great men and you will have a huge database of information your mind and brain can run to whenever something goes amiss.
Most exams of life don’t have a timetable, you don’t get ready, you live ready with the help of the Holy Spirit. – Bishop David Oyedepo
You’ll never know if you never try
One of the things that increase our knowledge base is the experience that comes from taking action on what you’ve conceived.
But most people don’t start because they don’t have a perfect picture. Some don’t want to start small. They don’t want to look like they are struggling. Because of this many people never try anything. Some don’t just want to risk anything.
These are some of the things that keep people from taking action when they have an idea. One of the major causes of this is that we only appreciate the beautiful aspect of success but refuse to look at what it takes to be successful.
You’ll never know if you don’t try. You’ll never discover if you don’t try something no one else has ever done before. And if you can’t do what no one else has ever done before, you will never be exceptional.
Look at every successful person and you will see them doing something unique.
Whenever you do something new, whether it turns out good or not, you will learn something from that experience. You will learn what works and how to do things differently the next time. Unfortunately, a lot of us want to read everything from a book or copy them from online platforms.
I’ve followed successful people for some time now. One thing about the most successful people is that they always try something new. They get a lot of criticism for doing that. But the things they learn from doing new things, whether they turn out good or bad, is just what makes them untouchable. That’s what a lot of us don’t realize.
If you’ve got an idea, start something.
No matter how many books you read on football, the first time you kick a ball is the day you will start thinking about a ball in a way you’ve never read in a book. It’s a whole new experience. You’ve learned a lot about football, but the experience is nothing compared to what you read or what they told you.
But then you realize that the more you kick, the more your brain finds new ways to kick the ball better. That’s how it is with life. You’ve got to try things. You have to do things. Watching only makes you a good critic, doing, is what makes you exceptional.
How about marriage? How about raising children? It’s good to read about these things. The ideas you get can help in so many ways. But ask any married man or anyone who has raised children and they will tell you there’s always a big difference between what you read and what you experience. Sometimes you’ll never understand what you read unless you experience it.
This is why I keep books even when I’m done reading them. Then after a few months or years when I’ve had more experience about the topic, I go back to them. Sometimes when I have a problem, I remember I read about it and I go back to the book. That’s when you realise you never fully understand what you read until you experience it.
People say they finish one book a week I say I don’t know what you read about. Because if the book has to do with life issues, every time you go back to that book, you are likely going to find a different picture from what you read.
When you are 30, pick up a book on relationships that you read when you were 22 and you will know what I’m saying is true. The higher you go, the broader the view. And all of this is down to experience. You’ll never know if you don’t try.
If you’ve got an idea, start doing something about it. This is a good way to see things more clearly. It’s one of the best ways to generate ideas. Because the more your brain works on a particular thing the more it adjusts and the more ideas it can generate for you.
Remember you can’t chase what you can’t see. If you want to see more so you can chase more, start doing something. The quote that says “experience is the best teacher” may not be perfect. But there’s a lot of truth in that statement.
Increase your creative space
There is something I call creative space. It’s not a real thing, it’s abstract. The thing is: the more ideas, wisdom, knowledge, tricks, plans, skills, you have in your creative space the better you become with creations and imaginations. There’s a chance I’ll make a complete article on the creative space alone. I suggest you sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss it.
The better or larger your creative space, the better you become as a creator. The more you feed your creative space, the better you become.
How does creativity work?
Unless it’s a revelation of some sort, what you will find most times as creativity will be a combination of things that have already been.
Here’s a secret most people won’t tell you about creativity. When you fill your brain over time with many things, at a time, when you are imagining things or thinking, the brain does what I call a “connection of dots.” It brings together some of the things you have put in it and combines them in a unique way that’s never been done before and this is exactly what turns out to be a new creation or a new idea.
Most people wonder why they are not creative. Then I ask, “how creative do you think you can get when you are not feeding your creative space?”
You can’t stand out playing and living on social media. You have to feed your creativity. Do all you can to feed your creative space.
- Be sure to read books.
- Look at other creations.
- Practice as much as you can.
- Connect with other creators within and outside your industry.
- Travel the world and experience new creations and cultures.
- Try something new.
- Take risks.
- Whenever you fail, be sure to learn something from that experience.
- Try not to automate everything.
- And know this: the easy way is not always the best.
Keep the Big Picture in Focus
Keeping the Big picture in focus is one of the best things you do for yourself as a dreamer. What you see, makes a big impact on you.
What you see has a way of pulling you. As such you must try to keep those big dreams and ideas where you can see them, both physically and mentally.
Find a way to keep the vision fresh in your head. As long as you have the vision in your head or mind, you can focus on it and do something to achieve it. Ideas will come as you think about it.
A lot of people give up because they no longer see what they have to see. And if you can’t see it, you can’t chase it.
Use whatever way you can to keep your dreams and visions in sight.
When I say in sight everything that constitutes sight is involved here – your eyes, your mind, your brain, even your thoughts.
What is that big dream or vision you have? Do all you can to keep them in sight.
There are two important things you need to do when you have a vision.
1. Write it down. Whenever the ideas come, write them down. Pour out your ideas into a book as they come. Leave perfection alone at first, you will find ways to make things perfect over time.
I have a ‘place’ where I put down company ideas and I also have a ‘place’ where I write quotes that pop up in my head from time to time. The real magic comes when you see those ideas coming together to make your life special.
If you have any dream or vision, make sure you have them penned in a good place.
Place things in your life that remind you of that big dream. There are several ways to do this. Some people use vision boards. Pastor David Ibiyeomie says he has a symbol of the globe in his office. That is what reminds him of the vision to reach the globe with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We must also do the same if we are to achieve our dreams. Put things in place to remind you of your vision.
- You can make use of a vision board in your room. If you don’t have a board, use carved papers or cardboards then pin them somewhere you can see them every day.
- The wallpaper and screen savers on your smartphone, tablets, and laptops can also be utilized for this purpose. My smartphone wallpaper is a picture of a nicely furnished room. The picture shows a small library created in the room and a laptop well-positioned close to the library. From time to time, this picture reminds me of the kind of life I want to have.
- You can also keep a picture of great men in your industry around you. Be sure not to idolize them. But have them in a place where you can always stumble on them from time to time. You could have it in your online or offline gallery so that any time you go through things, you can always have a look at the kind of future you hope to achieve.
There are innumerable things you can put in your life to remind you of your dreams. Do them. Make sure you keep your visions insight.
Recommended article: Keep Your Head Above Water: 7 Lessons For Dream Chasers
Final thoughts
You’ll only want to chase your dreams if you can see them. And remember, your sight goes beyond your eyes. Your organs of sight include your eyes, brain, mind, even the way you think. So if you want to see clearly, you must do what you can to keep these organs of sight alive.
I tell you, whether it’s a solution to a problem, the kind of future you want to have, an idea for a company or business model, a prophecy, the kind of life you want to live, the kind of person you want to become, a career, a record you want to break, you have to see it if you must pursue it consistently and successfully.
So keep your organs of sight alive. You can’t chase what you cannot see.
