Focus.

Doing my best to sing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" to one of my children today against the sound of the music in the next room, I noticed how the music playing devolved into chaos as I focused on what I was singing. The same is true in life: our focus greatly determines how much we understand of the world around us. As we shift focus, expanding or narrowing our field of view, things take on new significance. Often, focusing on what we've learned in the past completely precludes the accommodation of new information, just as focusing on Rudolph's tune made it impossible for me to make sense of the more complicated song.