In this world and at this era where a lot of things tend to distract people and take their focus away, many people no longer observe to discover, because they are always in a haste. It is true that the world has charted a new course that has made almost everything fast-paced, but this does not rule out the fact that observation is among the key elements of adjusting to fit into the demands of the world. A lot of opportunities, successes, achievements, can be gotten if people can learn the power of observation.
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You will be surprised how many opportunities are passing by you every single day and how many others are taking advantage of the same opportunities that you are not even aware exist. This goes to prove that in order to undertake something worthwhile, you need to be able to determine when an opportunity is coming and how it is coming - the power of observation. When it comes to learning, it will be almost impossible without careful observation and then learning. This is why; observation has remained one of the potent ways of acquiring new learning.
I remember sometimes ago when I visited one of my relatives for the vacation. She had a little baby of under 2 years at that time, and I tend to stay a while with the baby (for about 1month) before I travelled back. In the time I spent there, I noticed something very unique about the baby; the major part of what he does were learnt from the adults around. That is, as he observes people do what they do, he will attempt to replicate it in his own little childish way. This was when I concluded that the little children learn more by watching and observing others.
Imagine if adults will have the patience to observe the same way, a whole lot of things will be simplified and made easy. In the place where I worked briefly as a contract staff, I learnt something about observation. There was a time that I was moved to another department that uses an entirely different production machines apart from the ones I had earlier learnt in my former department. When I got to the new department, the machines looked so complex; such much that I had never seen anything like that before.
After considering how complex such machines were and the tasks I was meant to perform on them, I then asked my H.O.D how I was supposed to learn how to operate those machines. He just responded "observe and learn." Well, that was exactly how it happened; I observed my colleagues the way they operated it, the processes involved, the steps, and it demystified the complexity in it. I followed the same procedure I had observed from them and I started using it. It was not long and I also became a pro in the same machines that I had earlier seen as something too complex. All these are pointers to the power of observation.
Even in our normal day-to-day lives and activities, observation plays a very crucial and pivotal role and can facilitate the learning process. Of course, we learn everyday and can learn from everyone. You will agree with me that there are things you know now (maybe on how to do something) that no one actually sat you down to teach you; you simply learnt how to do it by observing others do it. Learning is never complete without observation. Even in science experiments; observation forms the basis of research, hypothesis, testing, analysis, etc.
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In order to cultivate or develop the art of observation, you have to be committed to building up yourself, then you need patience and also learn mindfulness. More so, you need a calm spirit. Of course, if you cannot calm your spirit and view the world in a more detailed way, everything may appear bleak to you. The truth is that, more often than not, the calmness of your spirit is without recourse to where you are. You can still be in a rowdy place and maintain calmness. This is why mindfulness is very important. To explore the power of observation, you have to understand that your mind has a major part to play.
Learn to invest in your mind; read books, practice mind-training exercises (like Yoga, etc) for a sounder mind, and keep company with people of like minds. All these will help you to shape your mind as you desire. I conclude with this statement which I once told a friend:
To discover things, you have to learn to look beyond what you see.
Thanks for reading