Reframing things.
Think of a photograph you have taken or seen. If you zoom into the part of the photo that you don't like, and crop out everything else you will find that you probably no longer like the photo. However, if you zoom back and look at the big picture or if you crop out what isn’t supposed to be there, it changes everything
This will be a story of how I found a place that I thought only existed in my dreams, how it was when I finally found it, and how that relates to our lives as we continue to move forward.
Thirteen years ago, I found myself in a bad spot the choices I made in my youth caught up to me. I was in an incredibly depressed state. I would literally wake up in the morning and say “Oh shucks, I am still alive. This wasn’t all a bad dream.” I would try to find a way to make it through but it was generally a struggle to function. I remember that I would wake up and make it my mission to make it back to that pillow that evening alive. That was as far as I could imagine.
One day, I was looking around on the internet and I found this picture:
Now, I was born and raised in Hawaii and so were many of my friends and those I grew up with; So when I showed the picture to them they all said it was photoshopped. How could those mountains in the background look like that?
In their defense, I did find the pictures along side some wild pictures with planets just inches away from each other by castles and other things. I decided that I would just hope it was real but prepare myself in case it might not be.
Fast forward 9 years to the day, I find the same picture but in a different season:
I knew that the place had to be real. I reached out to some new friends in Switzerland and asked them to figure out where it was. One of my friends found it and told me it was a 5 hour drive from her house, and it was in Italy.
I decided that I was going to go there no matter what. It took a few more years but in August of 2017, I was able to go for myself. I took this photo with my own camera.
Proof I was there...
Now to the panorama picture...
If you are able to zoom in, look at the far right side. You will see traffic and some electrical lines as well as some other modern things. If you look back at the first picture I took, you will see you can't see the power lines. I have exactly 0% photoshop skills, I framed the photo to see only the most beautiful part.
Some people might say, that is cheating, or faking it or creating an untrue picture of what is really there. I disagree.
There are so many things that our mind blocks out in order for us to not go crazy. If we tried to process every image of what is in our immediate universe we would not be able to handle all the information. I am not suggesting that we delude ourselves or lie about reality. I am simply suggesting look at the giant panoramic picture above and, see all the beauty in it.
What if I had waited for 12 years, commuted for 80 hours round trip, took 11 planes 14 trains, and a 6 - hour drive to Austria, took a 6 hour rest in a hotel, then another 3 hours to Italy just to be disappointed because there were power lines in the valley. That would be crazy! If you can't tell from the blog, listen to our podcast and, you will see that I am never at a loss for words... I couldn't speak because I was standing in the place that was previously just an image from a computer burned into my mind as a dream.
It was the most beautiful place I had ever stood. It was only a dream to me, I wasn't about to let 2% of the entire image ruin it for me. But that's what we do: Think about it. We have such amazing experiences and so many blessings and triumphs but when one little thing goes wrong, that suddenly becomes all there is in the world for us.
This is what our mind does when we are going through something. Yes there are times where the circumstances are simply bad, and things actually are a big problem, but generally the truth is that we have cropped out everything good that is going on around us.
What are you cropping out of your field of view and focusing on?
The things that are holding you back are the things that are actually unnecessary. We shouldn't crop out things like bills and pretend they aren't there. We should be aware of things that need to get done. But if you are real with yourself, there are so many things that are going for you and, so many blessings that are going on in your world.
Even if all you can say is you are able to walk and breathe, you can be thankful.
If you are reading this and thinking that I don't know what it's like, you are right, I don't know your life. However, do know what it's like to be homeless, to be incarcerated, to be hated, broken, and lost. I also know that the only way I survived those times was by believing that there was something greater, and that I was going to make it out of my circumstances. I also had to learn to see the good, no matter how small it was, and it worked in getting me through.
Please keep your head up if life or your work has got you down. See things the way they are, can be and will be. You will get there.
