Hmm...

We recently attended a retirement luncheon and one of the people there used a mountaineering analogy to express how the honoree, much like her mountaineering mentor, had taught her to look up to see where she was going, not down at her feet. If you watch your feet, you might fall. If you don't look up, you get lost. And the most obvious: If you don't look up and see the scenery, you won't enjoy the trek nearly as much.

This reminded me of something that I learned from B as he coached my riding. While I'd never thought of this in any context except steering my bicycle, I think it takes the above analogy one step further and, at least for me, more useful:

Keep your eyes on where you want to go. If you focus on an obstacle, you are bound to hit it.

If you have a narrow opening you want to get through, look at the space, not the walls on either side. If there is a rock or hole in your path, you of course need to assess the impediment so you know what is coming up. But then keep your eyes on the track where you want your wheels to pass. If you are looking at that rock, you are bound to hit it even when all you are thinking is "don't hit that rock, don't hit that rock." If you look at the wall instead of the opening in that wall, you'll never make it through clean.

If your eyes aren't on the path you want to take, you can't follow it.