Perspective.

Perspective is one of those funny little words that we love to use but hate to hear. When someone tells you to “Get some perspective” on the matter it is so annoying! Because “Right NOW is important! Not in a few years time! And why do I have to think about this moment in a different time dimension just to make a decision? It makes no sense, how does that help?!”

BUT, my theory is, without perspective we would all just take everything for granted and become rather self absorbed. Without thinking about the bigger picture we would become blinkered and narrow minded.

Speaking from my own experience, I know there have been many times in my life when a little perspective would have done me a lot of good – had I used it! Take moving for example; when I first moved to Canada I didn’t want to – not because I hated Canada or thought my life would be awful there (ok, maybe a little!), but because it wasn’t England, it wasn’t home and it was alien and unfamiliar.

So, what did I do? I was miserable! I was miserable because I was protesting. But as you can imagine, it didn’t do any good. I should have just kept an open mind about it all. Moving countries didn’t mean I was going to be trapped there forever and ever amen! But at the time I couldn’t see the bigger picture, I didn’t look outside of myself or towards the future – I wallowed in the present.

Looking back on this time now, I can appreciate what I was feeling then and respect that but am also a little frustrated at myself for not making more of an effort. Ironically though, in hind sight I do now miss certain elements of living in Canada but I never appreciated them at the time. I took it for granted.

The other week I found myself on a road trip going around lake Ontario with my sister and some friends. It was a lot of fun and as we were too busy goofing around, we rarely had a serious moment but, while getting soaked on the ‘Maid in the Mist’ on the Niagara Falls, I had a profound moment.

It was with a tiny insect.

He – (It’s a he!) – was sitting on my sleeve and, as I looked down on him, I found myself thinking “Does this insect know where he is? Does he comprehend that he is on the sleeve of a giant human who is on a giant boat in a giant waterfall in Niagara, Ontario, Canada?”, “Or is he completely entranced by staring at this strange blue object he now finds himself on completely oblivious to his surroundings?”

I found it really baffling and kind of amusing to think about! Do insects have perspective? Are they spacially aware? Or is this critter forever going to be ignorant to what lay behind him? :

Interesting, huh?!

When my dad was a kid, he would write in the front cover of his books:

“This book belongs to Stephen Howell, Aged 7, *Address*, England, United Kingdom, The world, The solar system, The Milky Way, The Galaxy, Infinity.”

I used to think it was really funny but it is actually quite profound and It has put him in good stead for his adult life as he still continues to be just as profound and speculative today!

*  *  *  *

I often wish we could speak to trees. Big, tall, wide trees.

They look so wise and would have witnessed so many significant events from the past. Imagine what they would say if they could talk!

This is why I like keeping a journal. I love reading back on my life. Sometimes it is very emotional but, more than often, I  make myself laugh at some of the “major crisis’s” that I was dealing with at the time that weren’t actually crisis’s at all, I just thought they were in that moment. See, *PERSPECTIVE!*.

Sometimes I cringe at what I have written and often when I read I get more memories flooding back that I wish I could add to the original text to give more context to the situation. However, I would never cross anything out or re-word an entry as I want to respect the integrity of my young self but, I have decided to start a ‘Perspective journal’ to solve this problem. What I plan to do is read back on my old journals and, when I come across something that I no longer agree with or want to add more to the story, I will write the date of the day I was reading about in my old journal into my new ‘Perspective journal’ and will elaborate further on that day; what else I remember about it and how I view it now. I think it will be a very interesting experiment and the funny thing is – in a few years time, my perspective journal will also be out of date and I will have further perspective on my perspective! It just keeps on going!

We are blessed to have such extensive minds with intricut thought processes. The ability to reflect and ponder and be curious is amazing! Use it! You will come to some pretty cool conclusions!

R x