Thursday, October 7, 2010

What Lens Are You Looking Through??

Autumn is now in full swing and quite evident here in the Midwestern portion of the United States where I live.  A renovation of the landscape is occurring.  The leaves on the trees are changing from emerald to golden amber, burnt orange and fiery crimson and soon they will flutter to the ground when the brisk autumn breeze blows.  Whistles and cheers reverberate through the chilly air at the Friday night school football games and a crackling of the logs in the fire pit mesmerize all who stop to feel its warmth. As a rare exception, this year an over abundance of rain fell in our region recently. Thus, we uncharacteristically have areas of devastating flooding with some major roadways near the many lakes and rivers in our state.

Today I drove some friends to the airport and realized for the first time, the incredible amount of excess water pouring over the banks of a major nearby river.  It was shocking to see only the very tops of twenty and thirty foot trees waving above the rushing water, parks completely immersed no longer visible to the eye, and in one area…the water seemed to continue forever into the horizon.

My route home included crossing a hefty bridge.  That was the moment my eyes were opened to the devastation that will linger for citizens in our area for months to come.  The headline of every news program, for the last week and a half, included stories of the destruction and ruin.  However, this truly was the first time I had witnessed it with my own eyes.  The actual visual changed my perspective completely.  I have been so consumed with the flood of messages, activities and demands of my own small world; I failed to grasp the bigger picture of how people around me could be endangered and hurting from this natural disaster.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." ~Marcel Proust

What have your eyes been “seeing”?  What “lens” are you looking through?

A friend of mine told me about a miscommunication with a client. He rescheduled a meeting to another time...however the client did not receive the message for some reason. When my friend and his client did connect via mobile, they both agreed to still meet that evening.  Amidst the obstacles, the meeting ensued...the result? An incredible evening with much forward progress in life for both participants. 

Many times in such an event, we find people angry, hostile and bitter about the miscommunication because it inconvenienced them or interrupted their other plans.  We often look at the situation from our own lenses that have not been cleaned for quite some time. We have not taken note as to how many times our own finger prints have touched the lens - how many times we were thinking of our self and the inconvenience which was placed on our own life.

The wisdom I found is that these very finger prints obstruct us from visualizing a clear picture of the beautiful possibilities which could occur.

What have your eyes been “seeing”?  What “lens” are you looking through?

I recently met a lovely woman from London, Tina Andretta, who takes pleasure in devouring positive reading material to learn and grow.  Her most recent book seemed to create an eye-opening experience - almost like putting on a new set of lenses for the first time.  Tina shared, New eyes are a result of renewed self belief and self image - Going back to the fact that we do not see with our eyes, but with our brains.  ...A few months ago I would have written this comment based on theory only, and now I'm talking from experience.  Since my belief system around who I am and what I'm capable of has changed, the whole world is taking on new form.  My life has totally changed in the last 2 months, and it's ABSOLUTELY because my self-image has DRAMATICALLY improved.”

Tina now sees new possibilities in the world – more beauty around her.  Possibly it is her positive reading material which has cleared her “life lens”. Her new vision is magnificent.

Now it is YOUR turn…
What have your eyes been “seeing”?  What “lens” are you looking through?  We look forward to hearing your experience.

4 comments:

  1. God recently reminded me as I am struggling with a few things, that I need to remember who and what I am in Him. Others opinions and words don't make me, what God thinks I am, does. So as hurtful as some can be, I have to again try to let it go, be the bigger person, but sometimes, I don't want to have to be the bigger person....but....I have to try to live the way the Lord wants me to live not the way I feel like living. Hurting is not fun. I have to pick myself up and see with renewed vision of what the Lord has for me and leave the rest behind so it doesn't hold me back. :)
    Kim Bidwell

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  2. Hi Kimberly

    You're writing is dazzling :) Not sure if this is worth mentioning, you tell me. I've been to loads of seminars and read hundreds of personal development type books and there are periods in my life when I would apply what I'd learnt and mor...e often than not it didn't make any difference. Randomly, a few months ago, a certain succession of events took place that allowed me to be free of a traditional job for a while, and gave me time to think about what I really wanted.

    I started going for some goals I'd set and my confidence increased, and then another weird set of events occurred where I met someone who said he wanted to help me, just because he wanted to, no other reason. I knew he didn't pick me out especially, it just seemed to be his nature, and his generosity, his acceptance of and belief in people astonished me. Made me ask myself when I lasted did something for someone without any guaranteed reward.

    Literally from then I've started being there for people more, noticing when someone needs something and jumping up to help them, giving more of my time (I'm v selfish about my time) and generally just looking out for ways to be of service to people around me. Being this way has improved my quality of life and my happiness and has quashed a few limiting beliefs about myself. Suddenly all the things I'd learnt at seminars and all the books sort of came flooding back. And I felt I could access them all so much more easily, I didn't have to remember them, they were sort of dancing in front of me every day.

    Taking steps towards my goals, having someone else believe in me and trying to give other people 'moments' that they remember have all made me see myself and life with a new 'lens' as you put it :) I've never been happier. Or luckier. Or felt more connected. Or more excited for what's coming. I just need to keep working on this new habit and make sure that the snowball continues to roll in the right direction :)

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  3. Kim - you are looking through the right lenses when you are looking forward. Beware of that rear view mirror. Your future is ahead of you...keep moving toward it...it looks fantastic!

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  4. Tina -- Thanks for sharing your beautiful words. What an amazing gift you have been shown. It is thrilling that you have polished your lenses and are viewing life with sparkling clean view! Keep us up to date on how things continue to look. :-)

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