Zoom Out...

Sometimes I find that I get a little myopic in my life.  I become so focused on things, ideas, plans, people, that I miss the larger perspective and picture.  I try to remember that I can always zoom out.  It is a tool that is available to me all the time.  I can zoom out, giving myself and others more space, fewer limits, increasing perspective thereby gaining access to ideas, concepts and realizations that are just not available to me at a zoomed in level.

I try to remember every morning to ask for the ability to do this as my day progresses.  Let me remember to zoom out into a fresh perspective...

Problems like traffic, daily irritants to my routine and plans all are made better when I zoom out and realize that the current bother will not bother me in two years, or even two days.  I can immediately release my tight grip on reality when I see that whatever is vexing me in the moment will pass, usually in short order...

Zooming out also helps me get out of myself.  When I am zoomed in all I can see is me.  My thoughts, my feelings, my plans, designs and opinions.  Zooming out helps me remember there are other people in the world with thoughts, feelings, plans, designs and opinions...and they are frequently in conflict with mine.  I can’t always do it, but often when I am able to zoom out, I can see that the needs of others are not just an inconvenience to be managed or handled, but opportunities for connection, love and growth.  Being kind is never wasted, ever.  And while I do not get up every day thinking, “I am going to be an asshole today,” sometimes I just am despite all I do every day to ensure that I do NOT behave like that...

Like right now, I am sitting in this amazing home, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, watching the seabirds fly back and forth.  The waves crashing and undulating.  When I zoom out, I can think what it might be like to be a seabird, having to fly around all day, every day to get enough to eat.  How my very survival depends on my ability to fly, and forage and persevere.  And I can relate to this.  I hardly have to fly or forage daily but I too need mobility, sustenance and perseverance.  And just like that I am not this separate entity in and of myself, but I have created a kinship with the seabirds, and I think, “just like me...”

Just like me is the payoff for zooming out.  I become one with humanity and the world.  I am not this separate desperate creature, destined to go it alone in this world.  I am just here, doing my best to survive and thrive, just like everyone and everything else.

Again, still...