Cute Misfortunes And Zooming Out

It is so easy to get trapped, nowadays, in our personal way of perceiving situations and events.
But as Epictetus says, people are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. It is only when we zoom out, when we elevate our point of view, that we can see what the whole picture represents. Only then, we can see how our individuality merges with everything else.

Reviews

I enjoyed this very much. I must remind myself of this often because it is so true. Thank you. ❤️

Thank you Spiros!
Such a refreshing and positive perspective✨🙌☮️
I have some new work to do☺️

I’ve been working on changing the lens through which I view things at times, and I found your analogy and perspective to be very helpful. Thank you 😊🙏

This was a great perspective thank you and Namaste

A nice reminder that a slight shift in perspective can make a huge difference!

Thank you! This was enlightening. What a great quick change.

Beautifully said, needed that today. 🙏🏻😊

Very interesting. Thank you so much 😊🙏🏻

Thank you for sharing your story! I like the tools you gave me. Sending blessings and gratitude 🙏

Liking the zoom out notion a lot, although I must say, I never thought my kids’ tantrums were cute 😀

I love this! Very useful to zoom out and see that you are only a pixel in the larger picture of life. Beautiful. Thank you! 🙏🏼

Thank you for this very thought provoking message.

Excellent! Bookmarked. Thank you 🙏🏽

Thank you for helping see things in a different perspective, I will definitely think more about that 🙏

Thank you for your perspective 🌎

A different perspective or view helps the big picture. Thank you for this thought provoking meditation.

I love this method of changing perspective 😍 For me, it works extremely well.
Thank you💕

Very enjoyable and helpful in shifting perspective and negative perceptions. Goid intellegence.
Thank you.

This was excellent. I am normally a bit wary when I hear the word "God" used in a way that sounds like it is referring to a specific faith tradition, so I was VERY pleasantly surprised and grateful when immediately after that word was used, there was a very matter-of-fact and thoughtful explanation that clearly stated it IS NOT a reference to such a thing but only the word chosen to describe what I personally term "Source" or "Higher Power" or "the Universe" or "That Which Is."

The rest of this talk was a fantastic example of how perspective and distance shapes value judgments as to the character of an event - which, I might add, is actually neutral. We assign the event to a category of positive, neutral, or negative based on our own perspective and values.

The "zoom out" technique made me smile, having been a professional photographer in my colorful career path. Yet it also is very familiar in concept. I first began using this technique in the early 1990s, after reading a poem in one of my favorite books, "Earth Prayers from Around the World" edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon. (Which still to this day resides next to my bed, accompanied my to military Basic Training, and travels with me on most of my trips.)

There is a brief entry by Lew Welch musing over the fact that if one steps out onto the planet and were to draw a circle just 100 feet around, there would be "300 things nobody understands, and, maybe nobody's ever really seen." The passage goes on to ask how many of those things can we find?

This was also reflected in a poster I had hanging in my college apartment, a version of which appears on a magnet that is attached to one of the picture frames sitting on my desk at work. It depicts the Earth (in the poster, it was the Milky Way Galaxy) with a red arrow pointing to a tiny spot with the words, "You Are Here" written next to the end it the arrow.

Zooming out - or even zooming in - shifts one's perceptions significantly, or at the very least, has great potential to do so. I use this technique with my clients, only with a psychological technique twist called "reframing." Asking if there is another way the event/situation could be interpreted often shakes the mind loose and gives it room to breathe, more able to view it objectively rather than from the instinctual/emotional level. When working a crisis line, I employed this technique with almost every person reaching out for help.

I gave a simple example, that of having gotten a new puppy and returning home soon afterwards to find the puppy had chewed up a favorite pair of shoes. It sits there, wagging its tail with tongue lolling in puppy pleasure to see you as you arrive. How do you respond? The event is in the past, and the puppy won't understand it should not have acted that way. Many initially respond with anger, a "bad dog!" response. Some become upset over the loss of the shoes but do not direct their emotions at the dog. Some might say, "At least the puppy didn't mess on the bed or chew up furniture." Some simply note that they need to do a better job puppy-proofing the house or consider crate training. Some might actually be happy as they wanted a new pair of shoes but had no room to get them, but now they do. And some may simply sigh, noting that they knew this was a possibility upon bringing the puppy home and will need to both clean up the remains of the shoes plus take steps to prevent future destructive behavior, but choose instead in that moment to focus on and respond to the puppy's joy with smiles and affection that are far more durable than the single shoe-chewing event now in the past. With distance of even a few moments and a wealth of puppy kisses and frolicking, the distressing situation becomes far less so.

In general, emotional responses last roughly 30 seconds before disappearing, unless they are attended to and reinforced. This is part of why the zoom out technique is so consistently effective, when done without deliberately holding on to initial assessments/judgments. "Stop and think" or "Count to ten before speaking" function on similar principles.

I was very glad to hear the lovely and simple description of the zoom out technique. Far too few people make use of it these days, I feel, and far fewer still seem either unaware of the technique or are unable to pause their gut reactions and take that step back, be it physical, mental, emotional, or any combination of the above and then some.

Bookmarked and downloaded this one to use as an additional way to describe the concept of perspective in interpretation of events. Thank you so very much for sharing this insight and important method with us. I see the light in you. 🤲🏻❤️🤲🏻