Welcome! My newsletter, “Work in Progress – Because we all are,” usually goes only to people who have chosen to subscribe to it. The newsletter and my blog (which, at this site, is open to all) are separate. However, today, for complex reasons – and I don’t want to bore you – I am posting my most recently distributed issue of Work in Progress here. I hope that you will enjoy it – and perhaps choose to subscribe. If you do, the sign-up form is to the right of this post.
Perspective
Imagine that you are in a valley, close to the ground, bent over, almost to ground level. Look around you. You can see a lot of fine detail, but not much else.
Now imagine that you are rising up a bit, perhaps in the same place but standing. Look around again. You can see a lot more.
Now, successively, imagine yourself rising up, climbing a hill, then a mountain, and each time looking around at the entire view.
Take it a step further. See yourself as an eagle or even a satellite circling the globe. As you look down you will be able to see the patterns of the world, its stark, barren deserts, its lush plains and valleys, its soaring mountains that seem to give us an almost sublime beauty, at the price of the harshest of conditions.
Why am I using this exercise? Because we can do a parallel process on the topic of our own lives.
Often, particularly when things are going wrong, we allow our perspective to narrow so that it is as if we are low to the ground in a deep valley, maybe even with an ant’s view of our environment. In such a state of mind, planning will probably involve how to get past the next few grass- roots and pebbles. There is no long view.
As we rise upwards we widen our perspective. Perhaps we will see that if we veer left through the roots we will come to another obstacle, whereas toward the right our route will be smooth. Perhaps we can find ways to reach our goal(s) more easily, or even recognize one that is even more worth our while than what we are presently seeking.
If we are to mentally survey our lives in full, we must mentally move upward, so that we can get a better view of where the rough patches are likely to occur, whether they can be avoided, or have to be prepared for. We can see the pinnacles of achievement, the serene valleys, the barren spots. From this perspective we can begin to see the patterns, the ebb and flow of our energies and our directions.
Perhaps, looking back over our shoulders, we can notice patterns – patterns that may or may not have worked for us. Possibly we can even recognize that we have been in a situation similar to today’s, and notice how we coped, or did not cope, with it.
We no longer see life only from one narrow point of view of the moment, but from the wider perspective of our interactions with our environment, which includes the effect of the environment on ourselves. (And never forget that, while other people form a part of your environment, you are also part of theirs.)
The wider our perspective, the more wisely can we make our decisions, and we can move forward with a greater awareness of what lies ahead, and what our possibilities are.
It beats putting all our efforts into trying to find our way through a forest of grass roots – or their day-to-day equivalent.
DianaR
(And, as always, if you would like a phone consultation with Coach Diana about perspectives – or other issues – feel free to contact me via my website at https://choicecoach.com.)
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