The Virtual Eye -  December 2025

The Pursuit of Focus (Seriously, Why?)

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January 1, 2026

As I rang the dinner bell for my backyard friends on New Year's Day  morning 2026, I unwittingly sparked the Great Peanut Butter Toast War.  I'm shortening that to TGPBT War for ease of typing (plus, my arthritic hands insist on it). The gang all came running and/or flying in for their daily breakfast of peanuts, sunflower seeds, broken potato chips, and stale toast lightly smeared with peanut butter.  Sure enough, within seconds down the trees they ran, nearly falling down over one another in their haste.

Squirrel A (SqA) picked up a little piece of toast and began happily licking off the peanut butter.  Birds everywhere  all around him, just as happily picking up the seeds and crumbs, etc., made a very country-like, bucolic scene.  Suddenly and without warning came along SqB (you figure that out, please) who was about 5 feet away from SqA. No matter - SqA dropped his toast and began a frenetic unforgiving chase after SqB, all around the area,  with malefic intent, I am quite sure.  Around and around they raced, SqB just millimeters ahead of his attacker. Birds suddenly launched into the air,  smart creatures they are, leaving a feather here and a feather there. The area was now owned by two combatants - and it all looked quite serious. 

To my astonishment, SqB  ran over to what I would forever after think of as the 50 yard line,  then suddenly doubled back and ran about three inches over to SqA's aforementioned  PBT (toast), deftly intercepting it. In one fell swoop, he grabbed it up with one tiny paw and his teeth,   and ran over to the chainlink fence, easily scooting up and over the top in one quick breath!  SqA  stood there on the ground for a moment, his eyes growing dark and huge with anger and then, wham!  Off he went, rocketing after his adversary. I swear to God for a second there it looked like SqB  had flipped him the bird before dive-bombing into the yard next door! 

Now then, this little skirmish escalated into an all out war within a few minutes. To my surprise, suddenly in the tallest tree out back, a maple tree, three squirrels appeared. Co-incidentally, another very tall tree, a cherry tree,  about 25 feet away to its left also had a few squirrels running up the tree and perched on some lofty branches. So did the squirrels on the Maple  do the same thing.  I swear, there were about at least 6  or maybe 7, 8  squirrels all tolled. Then, without warning two team Maple guys darted across a limb, aiming straight at team Cherry, while just one guy hung back and I am sure he was acting as a sentry.

Almost unbelievably, team Cherry did the exact same thing! The sentry on each tree held his post while the others flew into a rage-fueled all out battle. It was simply amazing to watch them scurry after one another, battle squeaks and yips filling the air - and I'm sure if I had my eyeglasses on I would have seen tiny balls of fur flying all over the place. The sentries  looked almost bored at this point, but they held their position. Good on them, I thought, giving them a little salute. 

Afterwards, all I could do was feel bad for A - but I had to doff my imaginary hat to B for his quick-thinking maneuver. And that is when I realized something:   the power of focusing. 

You are probably wondering what I mean. What I mean is that if SqA had only focused on what his objective was, and his progress with it, he may have finished his breakfast with a hearty little burb afterwards. But no, he was distracted by SqB and in that millisecond, his attention was diverted according to his emotions, and not by his sense of reasoning. It was obvious that SqB's focus was on the yummy toast and he wasn't breaking that for anything!  Hmmm….I thought. That sounded so familiar to me. Often times I am guilty of the very same thing. 

Let me explain: all too often I put something off believing wholeheartedly that I will 'get back to it.'  And, all too often, it is something that is not of critical importance, but when these things start to pile up, then it becomes a real situation. I realized that what was happening was that I was ignoring and therefore losing my power of focusing on a task or what-not. Quick as a wink, my attention would be diverted to yet another thing, which I would pursue, almost totally forgetting what I was doing.  Leaving a trail of started-but-not completed tasks and projects behind me I then promised myself to do this one thing:  to finish what I started. And to do that, I had to  virtually force myself remain almost laser-focused.

I've been doing that for quite some time, actually, and have been having wonderful results. But, this little TGPBTW brought back into focus the power of focus, and how important it is to every day living. 

Give it a try…really. Pull yourself back to the present moment and what you are doing and really relish in it for a moment. Then, you can allow yourself to feel more energy and just plain zing to go forward, to push on. It is in the pushing on that the greatest sense of accomplishment is felt and appreciated. Truly! 

I hope my little essay brought a smile to your face and a splash of energy for you to enjoy. Do whatever it is you want or need to do this year - and remember to stay focused. 

That's the why:  to be able to do what you want or need to do, and to feel that sense of satisfaction when you are done! Then, give yourself a pat on the back because you've earned it. By the way, peanut butter on toast is a pretty great reward <wink!>

Happy New Year, everyone!

Love,

Marie,

Editor in Chief 

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