So often in life we are distracted by our situation or mood that we forget to see what is most important. During these times we fail to see all the good things around us, focusing on typically insignificant negatives that have little to do with the facts of the situation at hand. "We find ourselves searching for weeds in a meadow of wildflowers".
Rather than look at the beauty around us, we allow ourselves to focus on a single negative aspect thereby identifying a situation in a narrow perspective leading to an overshadowing of positive thought. All of us have been guilty of this at one time or another as it is a part of human nature.
Think for a moment about what it would be like if we could redirect these thoughts back to the flowing green grasses and flowers of the meadow. The process is simple yet somewhat difficult when our mind wants to focus on finding the negative weeds of the situation. The challenge is to just stop and give ourselves that little moment to take in the beauty around us rather than allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with the insignificant details.
It has been some time since I have attended to this blog. My current work has found me immersed in a world that makes it difficult to maintain a positive perspective. It is only by coming back to the image of the meadow that reminds me that many of the details of thought have little to do with the bigger picture.
While I know that the work I am doing is important, it has led me into many discomforting situations surrounded with thundering negativity making it difficult at times to maintain a healthy perspective. After months of pushing myself, I took a much needed day off to spend a little time hiking in the mountains. Cresting a ridge to find the meadow in the picture was a gift as it clarified this concept that has troubled the back of my mind for some time. That is, our stress often has much more to do with our focus on detail than the reality of a given situation.
My sincere hope is that each of us will keep the image of the meadow available when our world seems to be overrun with weeds. It is said that the devil is in the details and when it comes to our focus, it really is.
Namaste
