The Great Characters Of Sherlock Holmes And Psych s ...

We all use observation to a certain extent in our day to day lives. As human beings, one of the many stimuli that we use is sight, therefore one of the ways we learn about our surroundings is through observation. Many great characters from fictious literature and pop culture, such as Arthur Doyle’s â€Å"Sherlock Holmes† and Psych’s â€Å"Shawn Spencer†. While this level of observation may be unrealistic, the uses and benefits that come from it are still incredible. So, is one just simply born with these elevated levels of focus and mental capacity? Many don’t understand that much like playing the piano or painting a picture, observation is an art and skill in its own right. A skill that can be taught, acquired, and applied. Personally, a few years ago I barely scraped the surface of the power of observation. It was the spring of my senior year of high school, and my younger brother wanted to get together and draw pictures. I agreed, thinking it wou ld be fun, I had hardly picked up a pencil for art in a long time. As we got out the notebooks and a plethora of artsy utensils, we got started. But there was a problem, I continued to look at the blank page in front of me. I realized, I did not know how to draw! It was not that the drawings were inadequate, but that I couldn’t put my pencil to paper. If I wanted to draw a realistic tree, there would have been no way to make it happen. I decided that the lack of my ability to draw stemmed from the lack of practice. Gordon B. Hinckley,