As you look at a mountain in the distance, if you hold your thumb up in front of your eye, it will look as if the mountain is only a couple of inches tall; while your thumb is miles high! Your head tells you it’s the opposite, but that’s not what it looks like.
We all know better, right? That whatever is closer just APPEARS to be bigger… yet every day we get caught up in the perspective that whatever is right in front of us is the biggest thing in the whole wide world. The current crisis, the latest temptation… “Life is uncertain, eat desert first!”
That’s often why the mountain stays in the distance, and we go on staring at our own thumbs. We get mesmerized, even blinded by our present moments.
Keep the proper perspective
Step back and see the overall picture. Hellooooo, it’s a thumb!
Don’t judge the present
Closer is just closer; it isn’t better or more dramatic… it’s just more immediate.
Deal with it on its terms, not you own
Take care of the present moment based on what the moment really needs, not its apparent bigness to everything else in the distance. (It’s a thumb, not a mountain).
Ask for another’s perspective
Other people don’t have your thumb in front of their face (and if they did, that would probably annoy them)… so ask what they see. Their vantage point might be very enlightening.
Keep your eye on the goal
If you’re trying to reach the mountain, put your thumb down and your foot forward!
The present is what gets you to your future. It’s where you live, but just cause you’re in the present doesn’t make this moment more important than your next moment. It’s just important to see it all without the blinders.
Thumbs up to you, now go take on the day!