It's All About Perspective

As I watched the amazing sunset along the beach in Santa Barbara, I ran back to grab my phone to take a photo of this pinky-orange color - something different from what I have been used to seeing back east.  Not only did the sun appear huge over the horizon of the water, but it was moving swiftly towards disappearance.

I eagerly talked with others around me about this beauty and how lucky we are to be here in this time and place while things are swirling around us with challenge, despair, devastation.  Somehow, the awesomeness of nature can bring about perspective and gratitude for what we have in this very moment.

I took my photo, excited to share with my family back in Boston, but somehow, the picture did not do justice to what my mind's eye had just captured.  I sent it anyway with a description of just how awesome it really was.

As I walked back to the car, I felt a sense of peace, but also an acknowledgement of just how perspective shapes our lives.  It coalesced some of my recent readings and reflections.  In "Me Finally" by Mitch Tishler, he uses the analogy of the aperture on a camera and when the aperture is open, so are we - receptive, inviting, able to take in - and when the aperture is closed, we are more likely in a place of self-criticism and judgement, which then extends into the world as we see it - uninviting, adversarial.

These nuances in life - the photo on the phone camera not being what we really see, the look on the face of someone who may be in pain but is interpreted as being unfriendly and the voice in our head that keeps us small - are all opportunities to alter the perspective.

Open your aperture!
Julie