Like most people (maybe everyone) I spend a lot of time in tunnel vision, immersed in the trivia of my day-to-day life. At this moment I’m worrying about money, wondering if my blog will be successful, and trying not to think about the presentation I’ve committed to doing next Monday. These things feel important, part of me believes that my life-long happiness depends on them.
But if I go back five years I believed that my life-long happiness depended on a whole different set of circumstances. Five years ago I was absorbed in a failing relationship that felt “last chance” to me and my days were spent trying to impress un-impressible bosses.
Taking a broader perspective – one where my life stretches end to end, birth to death – repackages it all. From this perspective all the boyfriends, jobs, successes and failures, bosses, money and lack of money, are just small parts of a greater whole. They are transformed from experiences that define me into mere life lessons. People and events come and go, and, while everything still has meaning and impact, nothing is forever.
Viewing the world through tunnel vision keeps us in constant struggle. Evaluating our life on a daily basis creates turmoil, and, while it ensures that our failures are only temporary, it does the same to our successes. Experiencing life from a big picture perspective helps smooth out the lumps and bumps, we assess our existence based on the sum of our days and the promise of tomorrow rather than on what just happened yesterday.
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i needed this today! thanks :)
I am reading a book called “The Love Response.” One of the things I picked up from it has to do with those times that I am over analyzing, and picking on myself for various things in my life. The new tool I’ve learned is to visualize being in a safe, peaceful place and then allow bring in the memory that is upsetting me. I just let all the emotions flow in negative or positive and write it all down, cry, pound on the desk what ever, just let it all out. Then I put my hand on the words and say to myself “I release you from my body,” and then destroy the paper. it’s very liberating for many reasons. Thank you for your article. I like the thought of look at the big picture that way you see the positive things going on as well!