Perspective

I met a man last night who had never before flown in an airplane until he had taken the bold step to do so a few days before to attend his sister's retirement. A generally quiet man of fifty-one years, he lives a simple life with his three dogs on the Chesapeake Bay and provides for himself through an honest days work in the construction business in Virginia.

I listened as he described the experience of his first flight. His childlike account of the experience gave me pause as I considered my own life and the many things I take for granted and consider normal or routine.
 
As he spoke, it occurred to me that the perspectives we have of life are as diverse as each and every one of us. Oftentimes, we see only one perspective and begin to consider it to be absolute, at least as it applies to our own lives. But when we take the bold step into the unknown, our eyes are opened to perspectives that reveal life in new and fresh and fascinating ways.

For this man the perspective was literal. For the first time in his life he saw the Earth's landscape from varying altitudes of flight from the window seat he occupied. He told me how amazed he was at the detail of the vast landscape of the eastern seaboard and went on to describe how he pressed his face against the window in childlike astonishment when he would see cars, buildings, trees, and waterways. He watched as the pilot retracted the flaps and set the aircraft aloft as the forces of gravity acted upon his body - physiological experiences he had never before encountered. He was present in a moment of sensory euphoria that allowed him to savor that moment, to capture details most of us take for granted when we fly.

Perspective can be literal, like the first-time experience on an airplane that opens the aperture of the eye and thus the mind. Or it can be figurative, like an attitude or alternative point of view, which also opens the mind. There's a lesson for all of us either way you consider it. The lesson is rather simple actually.

Open your mind to new perspectives!

If we allow but one perspective to dominate our lives, we remain hidden within the confines of our own decisions. The unknown remains hidden, the routine becomes the norm, and we rob ourselves of the fascination of personal growth. Stretch the limits of your imagination, set aside your fears and biases, a consider the freshness and fascination of a new perspective.

Until next time!

 

- G -

You must look within for insight, but look beyond for perspective. 
Dennis Waitley -

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