How to get perspective and move forward

My friend Delsie makes art-quality braided rugs. She teaches braiding, too. In her classes, people sometimes get freaked out and fixated on some single-point mistake in their braid that glares at them balefully. They feel their rug is ruined. Delsie usually takes the rug and tosses it on the floor, where rugs go. “Do you see it now?” she asks. Nope. Can’t really see that little glitch from even 5 feet away.

That’s perspective.
Perspective changes how we see things. We draw them out to get a sense of their real size. We change our vantage point to get a more nuanced understanding. When we see a bigger picture, look from a different vantage point, suddenly things change their appearance.

Many of us get fixated on tiny glitches in our dance. We freak out because we didn’t do this or that, or forgot whatever. We don’t like the way we look, or did that move, or whatever. We can’t see the big picture because that one little misbraided knot we are staring at seems so huge.

Sometimes the glitches are bigger. Life can suck pretty bad. Last night I talked with a friend who’s had it pretty rough. I mean hair-raising. You don’t even want to know. It certainly put my penny-ante stress into perspective. Maybe yours, too. That’s the thing about perspective. When we see a bigger picture, look from a different vantage point, suddenly things change their appearance.

But what’s amazing is people’s resilience and commitment to growth. Even though my friend endured some terrible things, she made it through. We don’t all make it, sadly. But most of us do. Our resources and reserves carry us through. Sometimes that’s the thing we have to look at–what worked. What’s good. We celebrate our strengths and what we are doing right. We all have a long way to go–that’s a given. But we need to see where we’ve been and appreciate what we have accomplished in context.

One friend whose resilience astounds me is Amity Alize. She took a huge risk in moving her studio to White River Junction, launched a Kickstarter to cover the expenses of renovation–and then her sweetheart–who was going to do all the renovation basically for a case of redbull–died. Out of the blue. Yet somehow, Amity kept it together. She finished the renovations and opened her studio. Today, just a few months later, is the studio-warming Kickstarter party.

Take a look at how far you have come. What have you overcome to get here? I guarantee it’s more than you think. And more important, too.

If you are in the area, drop by the party today. Live music from 1-4 PM. Fun stuff all day. I’ll be dancing and reading from my upcoming book. Here’s the link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1405163849800467/

 

Love,
Alia