Seeing The Forest For The Trees

In this session we contemplate the saying, 'You can't see the forest for the trees', using it as a starting point to discuss detachment, stepping back, letting go of attachments and the application of mindfulness in our everyday lives. This track is taken from my course, ‘Live Your Most Fulfilling Life’, available now via my profile.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to the session.

I invite you to take a seat or lie down and get yourself comfortable.

You can close down the eyes if you wish,

And take a deep,

Slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

In a moment,

I'm going to share with you a proverb,

Aphorism,

Idiom,

Or saying for you to contemplate.

I invite you to do so as deeply as possible.

To look beyond your initial default reaction to it,

And to consider it from all sides.

To be open to it guiding you,

Encouraging you and informing you of potential knowledge,

Insights and wisdom that may be lying just below the surface.

Our goal with each of these daily contemplations is to use the session to acquire a deeper understanding of ourselves,

The world and our place within it.

So let's take another slow,

Deep breath in through the nose,

Now through the mouth and consider the following.

You can't see the forest for the trees.

You can't see the forest for the trees.

So this saying,

This idea of not being able to see the forest for the trees,

I think speaks to detachment.

The idea of stepping back,

Letting go,

Of putting yourself in a mental or physical position of being able to see the bigger picture.

You can't see the forest for the trees.

The idea is that you're so focused on one tree,

That you don't see the entirety of the forest around you.

How many times in life do we focus on the minutiae,

The 0.

1% problem,

Rather than looking at the big picture?

Maybe this also speaks to a gratitude practice as well,

Which we can get to,

But on the detachment piece,

It's talking about the idea of stepping back.

Let's look at the full picture.

Let's take a breath.

Let's move away from the line and just observe.

How easy is it to see,

Understand,

And potentially even solve or take steps towards solving other people's problems?

You're talking to a friend or a family member or a co-worker and they come to you.

They're all rattled.

They're all overwhelmed.

They're all super focused on this tiny little thing.

They're emotional,

But not you.

You're seeing it from the outside perspective.

You're seeing it from a detached perspective.

You're seeing it from a perspective of someone who can see the forest for the trees.

From your detached perspective,

You can start to offer advice,

Solutions,

Guidance.

Start to suggest that if the person was just to see it from the way you see it,

They'll realize that the problem isn't really that big a problem.

It's like this idea of will it matter in five years?

This micro problem,

This little thing may feel huge because emotions feel massive,

But relative to life,

Relative to even to that day,

The emotion may not be that big,

May not be that over-awering,

All-encompassing thing.

It's just one tree in a forest full of them.

So it's a matter of how.

How do you see the forest for the trees?

How do we step back?

And I think it's a matter of taking a slow,

Calm,

Mindful breath,

Standing up taller,

And potentially even literally taking a step back,

Sleeping on a problem,

Asking for guidance and advice from other people,

Trying to do the mental reconceptualization of asking,

Will this matter in five years?

What is the bigger picture here?

Is this a problem that even needs solving?

That's an interesting one,

And it might sound counterintuitive or potentially offensive,

But I can't stress the amount of times that I've stressed over a problem,

Over an issue,

Over something,

Only to walk away from the problem,

Come back to it,

And realize that it doesn't need solving.

It doesn't even matter.

Where I had to spend hours and hours and hours fixing the problem,

The end experience,

The product I create,

The user experience,

The problem I'm trying to solve,

It wouldn't really make any noticeable difference,

Other than perhaps in my mind,

Other than perhaps the ego,

The desire to have the perfect piece of art or product or website or whatever it is that I'm doing,

Poem.

It's like you're trying to be a bonsai artist,

You know,

The people that shape the trees,

A hedge trimmer.

Once again,

Trying to make one tree look a certain way in a forest full of them.

If you were to present someone the artistic equivalent of a forest,

The business equivalent of a forest,

The life equivalent of a forest,

They're going to see the whole product,

The whole thing,

The whole service,

All of it.

They're seeing the forest,

Not each individual tree.

If you go into a forest,

You could look at a tree and see,

I don't like the word,

A deformity,

But oddness,

Difference,

Issues,

Perhaps.

The analogy sort of falls away a little bit,

But each tree looks different,

Some very different from others,

But taken as a whole,

It's fine.

It's very easy to get bogged down on the little things,

Little aspects of our life,

Our work,

Our art,

Being super close to it,

Being the creator of it,

Being in the driving seat,

You know,

Seeing the world out of your eyes.

You see all of the problems,

You see every little issue,

You feel it,

You think it,

But to the external perspective,

You're just presenting what you're presenting,

And they're not really focused on every little issue.

The next time you see someone that is attractive,

The next time you see someone that is attractive,

That overawes you with their beauty,

Look closely,

Look closely at each individual part,

See the trees for the forest,

And you'll notice that they're not perfect.

Now,

This isn't body shaming,

This isn't criticizing,

But it's the same is true for every product,

Every piece of art.

Nothing is perfect,

But when you take things as a whole,

There's this synergy that comes.

So if you're struggling to see the forest for the trees,

Step back,

Observe things in their totality,

And then look closely.

Your favorite book,

Movie,

Or song has faults,

And that's okay.

And indeed,

It's almost like that's what makes it enjoyable.

It's the human aspect.

There's lots of talk of AI and all of these things changing stuff,

But there's a grittiness,

A realness,

A,

Dare I say,

Beautiful brokenness to humanity.

Art is expressed through the pain.

We can see deeper and fuller and get this real connection because we all feel like this.

It's the human condition.

It's just very easy to get stuck thinking that everyone is looking at every individual tree that we have,

Rather than the whole forest.

You find yourself stuck,

Take a breath,

Step back,

Realize that everyone is going through this same challenge,

And move forward.

You will see other people's forests,

But you think people are looking at your trees.

The other way to approach this is via a gratitude practice.

Can't see the forest for the trees.

We're so focused on the individual,

On the little thing,

On that tiny problem,

That we fail to see all of the good things that we need to have happen to get that problem.

From the big to the small,

If you lose your job,

You live in a society most likely that enables a free and functioning economy.

Yes,

There are problems.

Yes,

There is unfairness.

Yes,

There is systemic issues that need addressing.

But for the most part,

If you're able to listen to this talk,

You're in a pretty good place,

Both relative to other places right now,

And very much especially compared to other times.

We live in good times.

There are problems,

But to even have the problems we are having requires a lot of good things to arise.

That's the forest.

I had to have some dental stuff happen recently.

It wasn't pleasant.

It wasn't enjoyable.

But I'm extremely grateful for the fact that I had to go through that unenjoyable experience.

Because the alternatives of some people in the world right now,

And of most of human history,

Would have been much,

Much,

Much worse.

Right?

What can you be grateful for and missed the pain?

It's like the silver lining sort of thing.

It is there.

And there'll probably be a talk in this course or in another course about the idea of finding the silver lining.

But it is there to be found.

And I would suggest that if you are struggling to see the forest for the trees,

That you consider a gratitude practice.

If you're stuck in traffic,

What does that mean?

It means that you have transportation.

It means that you live in a place that has roads.

It means that you've got somewhere to travel.

There's a whole variety of things that need to have happen that are positive for you to experience the negative being stuck in traffic.

So with a reframe around attachment,

And or around the idea of a gratitude practice,

I ask you to consider,

Can you see the forest for the trees?

Can you see the forest for the trees?

So,

Well done.

This brings us to the end of the session.

At the bottom of your screen,

You'll see an option to view the classroom or to ask a question.

And before moving on,

I invite you to take a moment to click through and share your insights,

To read the answers from other students,

And to hear my replies.

Remember to start your responses by restating the contemplation,

Or in this case,

Forest for the trees,

So we all know which one you are referring to.

This is an opportunity for deep learning,

Further introspection,

And insight,

So please don't miss out.

I look forward to seeing you in the next session.

Thank you.

This track is taken from my course,

Live Your Most Fulfilling Life.

It's out now on Insight Timer,

And is available via my profile.

I invite you to check it out.

See you there.