I remember when I was a kid trying to walk across this balance beam. It was about four feet off the ground. I fell off every time. The crazy thing was that there was this other balance beam that was the same width as the four foot one on the same field that I could run across with ease. The only difference between the two was that the one I could run across was on the ground.

Noticing my dilemma (it was probably hard not to notice), the adult at the station asked me what I looked at when I tried to walk across the beam that was four feet off the ground. “The ground” I replied, as if that was the obvious thing to fixate on. “No, no.” she said, “Try it again, but this time focus on something solid in front of you or on the beam itself, don’t look at the ground, its height doesn’t matter.” I had my doubts about that last part, but I tried it again and walked across with ease.

How often do we fix our attention on the uncertainties of life instead of the solid things, the scary things instead of the beautiful things, what we don’t have instead of what we do have? The next time you find yourself doing this, focus on something solid. Maybe you’ll find that the height doesn’t matter.