Zooming out
Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of dating platform Bumble, once said:
"Life is about perspective and how you look at something...ultimately you have to zoom out."
This reminded me of a discussion that my favourite psychologist Owen O'Kane was having with Fearne Cotton on her podcast Happy Place, where he described a technique he uses when he feels overwhelmed and unable to see the wood for the trees. He imagines himself getting into a helicopter and looking down upon his problems from above, in order to get a little space and perspective. I loved this imagery and thought it could be very useful, so I made a note of it to try this out the next time I felt overwhelmed.
I hadn't had a chance to use the helicopter visual, when I came across another option to use that was more personal:
This photo was taken on a walk during a wonderful day retreat that myself and The Listening House co-owner Beth (yes, we are "The Beths"!) went on recently. The co-host of the retreat, Rebecca Norton, of Sense of Direction (https://www.senseofdirection.life/), uses nature as great analogies for life, and we discussed various fascinating subjects such as borders, perspective and decision making. Whilst my imagination is a fantastic tool that I use regularly, I also love to have actual images in my mind's eye, as these can sometimes be more powerful.
The same day, we also benefitted from similar discussions and analogies with co-host Glenda Strong (https://illustrationsbyglenda.co.uk/), this time using art - specifically watercolour painting - as the medium. Not only is watercolour painting incredibly relaxing and creative, it's also fascinating, and our discussion were around boundaries, stepping outside our comfort zone, and how being good at something (most things!) takes practise...
It's all about finding what works best for you. We are all wonderfully unique and generally speaking there is no one size fits all. However we can adapt any advice or tools in a way that make sense to us. And we can always refine and improve - after all, life is a journey!
Thank you for listening.
*if you enjoy the themes of these musings and would like to learn more, or join in similar conversations, please head over to The Listening House.