Namaste Divine Beloved,
I'm Carol.
I'd like to tell you a little story,
A true story,
But first,
Full disclosure,
I'd like to give you a little bit of a personal background.
I'm dyslexic,
And I can get totally confused coming out of the ladies room in a hotel,
Unsure of which way to turn.
I'm also night blind,
So the independent grown-up woman has a curfew dictated by the sun.
My kids laugh at that.
Now here's my story.
Some years ago,
I moved to a new city.
Whenever work required relocation,
I intentionally invested time in charting my route home,
Noting landmarks to avoid the frustration of getting lost.
It was Christmas time,
And there was a huge house,
Magnificently decorated like a Christmas wonderland,
A local attraction that brought admirers from miles around.
It was just a quarter mile from my home,
So of course,
This was an important landmark.
Whenever I approached the red light with the house on my right,
I felt so much at ease,
Almost home.
Well,
One evening,
As I was in route home,
There was the dreaded detour.
You just can't plan for that.
Anyway,
I lost the detour signs somehow,
And I got lost.
It was dark,
And I was getting increasingly frustrated and annoyed.
And by the way,
My GPS wasn't helping.
After what seemed like hours,
And I'm sure it was at least one hour,
I saw a corner house on my left hand side,
With lots of Christmas lights and scenery.
I decided to park and just take a walk to look at the lights,
Just to calm myself a bit.
It was really lovely.
When I got to the corner,
I turned to look at the front of the house.
It looked familiar.
Oh yeah,
You guessed.
It was my landmark.
I was less than a quarter mile from my home,
And didn't know it.
It was the same house on the corner,
At the light,
That I saw every day,
But I'd only seen the front of it.
I'd never turned the corner to view the beautiful scenery from the side of the house,
From a different vantage point.
I got back in the car,
Feeling like a nutcase for not knowing I was almost home.
I sat a few minutes asking myself,
How many times in my life have I missed seeing the whole picture of a thing,
Because I didn't move past my comfort zone to see it from another perspective?
What lovely or interesting things have I missed?
How much unnecessary frustration have I entertained,
Because I didn't move my mind to the right or the left to see another perspective?
I won't go through the whole practical application thing.
You get it.
Taking a step back always gives a bigger picture.
Considering a thing from different vantage points can add color and depth.
It could,
In fact,
Add the truth,
Or even manifest a greater truth about the same subject.
From that experience,
I routinely ask myself now,
When I'm in a perhaps contentious situation,
Carol,
Have you walked across the street and viewed this from a different vantage point?
I'm Carol,
And I invite you to visit my profile and follow me here on Insight Timer.
Thank you for listening.
