Perspective

Last week I was working at a particularly negative patients house and was really in it. I didn't want to be there, I was trying not to breathe the smoke they were emitting and I was mopping. Not the most fun. I don't remember the catalyst for the thought, but I suddenly remembered a meeting with the current group of teacher trainees I attended. One of our number recounted a story she had heard on the radio told by an astronaut of his first time in space. He was struck by the perspective. On earth, you just know wind and rain and destruction. From space you can see the totality of a hurricane.  This thought made me smile. It was as if these beautiful, thoughtful people were with me, reminding me not to get caught up in the wind because there's always a bigger picture.

This week we consider the idea of perspective and how it can apply to our lives. I have had the opportunity lately to be in many homes. When you're sick and limited in mobility, your walls become your entire life, unless you're lucky enough to have visitors. It is so easy to get caught up in our own story lines and our own thought/emotion patterns. Hell, even when you can leave the house and aren't sick it can be possible to bring the walls with you.

My fellow trainee from earlier was using the analogy of the earth from space to explain a yogic concept of mind called buddhi. Yogis have categorized more detailed layers of mind than our western model. They say the buddhi level of mind is the part of you which can view the lower levels as the astronaut views the earth from space.

Our lives have moments in which we are overwhelmed by reaction. Each person has different triggers; different reactions. If we can gain even an inch of perspective on the situation, we're more likely to have the space to be able to make decisions instead of reacting.

What can you observe without getting emotionally involved? Mine is sports. I can watch any sporting event (except one in which my son is involved) and not feel a thing. Put yourself in that mental space when you practice this week. It is not something you have to get right. It's not something you have any stake in. It's just what you're doing for a while. All you have to do is watch.