It's so easy to get caught up in the personal momentary experience. We are the central protagonists of our own lives, after all. It's important to be engaged in our own lives and to delve into the depths of the minutial of our personal experiences. It's beneficial to be asking ourselves questions like:
It is equally important to take a few giant steps back to remind ourselves to lighten up. I have been working on ways to detach and find a larger perspective, since I've started a new job and I've found myself getting caught up in the minutia, while losing sight of the big picture. I am finding a sense of perspective in the natural world, a sense of time, and the vastness of the universe. One of the most effective strategies I've used so far is to literally step out of the building where I work at lunch time. This allows me to have that oh-so-precious moment of, "Oh yeah! There's a world beyond the tasks I'm focused on!" I spend 15 minutes visiting some trees, feeling the sunshine or rain, watching a robin take a bath in a puddle or a dog run around. Through this process, I am reminded that I have a life beyond the work day. I also imagine a bird or a squirrel watching the mayhem that our species creates and laughing at our harried ways. When I go back into my work building, I feel refreshed as I bring a little bit of the outside world and the lessons it holds within me. Especially apparent in the spring, are the growth cycles of the natural world. I find it useful to think about the perspective that can be brought about through time. In a day from a now, a week, a year, or ten years from now, I'll have the distance to look back on these moments and laugh at the humor of being so wrapped up in things that have obviously resolved themselves by then. While a toddler struggles to make it up some giant stairs, the 10 year old doesn't think twice about running up the stairs skipping three at a time. Similarly, we grow and overcome the seemingly insurmountable challenges that face us in the present moment. Lastly, I look to the vastness of the cosmos. I don't know much about astronomy or astrophysics. I know that it's very big, on a scale that I can't really wrap my head around. I know that it's very beautiful, with some gorgeous patterns and structures. And, I know that it is full of mystery. For instance, about 68% of the universe is made up of dark matter, something that scientists don't really know much about. This helps me to feel as though I am a very tiny piece of a massive, swirling mass of mysteriousness. While I have moments of understanding what lessons I'm meant to be learning or what my next step is, there are so many moments and questions that I may never have the answers to. But, just as each of the estimated one billion trillion stars in the universe, I have my own place and light to shine. Until I get more answers, I'll try not to sweat the small stuff because in the cosmic scheme of things, it's all very, very small. Literally connecting with nature, thinking about a larger sense of time, and reflecting on my tininess in this vast universe are some of the ways I've been gaining perspective and detaching from the day-to-day challenges of a new job. What are some strategies that work for you?
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February 2019
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