A note bout the drawing: For this drawing, I tried out a technique called pointillism, where instead of more conventional drawing, the artist applies dots in layers in order to create an image. I got the idea from a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago a couple of months ago.

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One evening last week, I was looking around the house for my water bottle and couldn’t find it. Hmm. This immediately seemed odd to me, since I typically keep it in the same spot when I’m not using it. After a few minutes of searching, I realized that I had left it at the gym earlier in the day. Shortly after that, one of the kids came into the room and told me that I had forgotten to close the garage door, and rain was coming in. Oops. Fast forward to the next day, I arrived at the airport for work only to realize that I had forgotten my uniform tie at home. Grr. And we weren’t finished yet. The day after that, I arrived at the airport from a layover hotel, and…wait for it…I had left my work tablet in the hotel room that was a half-hour ride away. At this point, I was quite frustrated with myself. Why was I being so forgetful? Truth be told, though, I knew exactly what was going on, and it wasn’t a new thing.

One might say that I simply had an episode of absent-mindedness, and not to sweat it too much – it happens. And, while frustrating, none of these incidents were that big of a deal. I retrieved my water bottle the next day, my kid closed the garage door for me, I borrowed a tie for my work trip, and a most helpful colleague who lived locally was kind enough to retrieve my forgotten iPad and bring it to the airport. Problem(s) solved. However, this was far from the first time this sort of thing has happened; I’ve experienced these little episodes many times before.

Since I was young, I’ve had a tendency to be somewhat scatter-brained, as it were. At first, I thought I might grow out of it. When that didn’t happen, I thought that if I just became better organized, that would solve my tendency to be forgetful. This was helpful, but also didn’t solve the problem. That meant I wasn’t trying hard enough, right? So, I redoubled my efforts over and over again, but the problem continued to pop up every now and then, no matter how hard I tried. It just wouldn’t go away. So what could I do? Was my brain just broken?

After last week’s frustrating episode, I once again considered how I might do better going forward. I was already very orderly and disciplined when it came to managing my affairs. What more could I do? It seemed as if I had three potential courses of action: One, I could dismiss it as an isolated incident, even though my personal history indicates that it wasn’t. Two, I could become angry and frustrated, tell myself how stupid I am and beat myself up over it. I’ve tried that too, and it wasn’t particularly helpful. Third, I could accept my little challenge with interest and curiosity, and try to mine some good from it. But what good could come from being flighty and forgetful?

As it turns out, quite a bit. Thinking about my history of being forgetful, it always seems that the things forgotten are, well, small things. I can’t recall ever missing an important date, meeting, appointment, or losing an important document. Additionally, as a result of working to improve my absent-minded tendencies, I have over the years become one of the most clean, tidy, disciplined and organized people I know. I also believe that my efforts in this regard have helped me to better understand what my body and mind need to function well – nutrition, exercise, sleep, recovery time, down time, mindfulness practices, faith practices, not rushing tasks, and so on. On reflection, then, it seems that one of my traits that I like the least about myself has directly led me to more thoroughly develop other personal traits that I would consider to be good and productive. What an interesting little paradox.

The ancient philosopher Socrates famously said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. What is perhaps less famous is the context in which he said it; Socrates was imprisoned, awaiting trial and eventual execution. A challenging situation, to say the least. Even faced with unjust charges and the prospect of death, the philosopher maintained an open and curious attitude to examining his life and circumstance with an eye towards wisdom and personal growth. With that in mind, perhaps I can work more on observing my personal traits and tendencies with acceptance and curiosity – even the ones I don’t like.

Oh, by the way – has anyone seen my car keys?

AB21.