A View from the Top

Over the past few weeks I have been lucky to have a view of things from above: I have been in New York at the top of the Empire State Building, in Chicago on the Sky Deck at the Tower and a few days ago I was in Arizona overlooking the Grand Canyon and contemplating the Colorado River unwinding between the painted rocks of the Colorado Plateau...

A huge thrill, but also a profound awareness: seeing things from above gives you a different light, makes you breathe with a different depth, and offers you a perspective that being "glued to the ground" completely denies.

The same happens when you are able to put space between you and your problems, between you and your tangled relationships, between you and what concerns you or takes away your serenity.

You should learn to elevate your vision every time you feel crushed by something on the ground.

Take the time to "get a lift” and turn away from what that holds your attention on the details; it prevents you from having this higher vision.

Seeing things from above allows you to see how everything is connected in a design that has its own reasons for being.

Often we judge what happens to us on our instant emotions, we fully absorb the emotional aspect that a certain situation generates, but, looking back, what at the moment seemed to be a failure or a bad result could, in retrospect, open up fresh and unexpected opportunities for us.

We are not used to putting any space and distance between what happens to us and how we react, but, if we learn to do it as habit, it would save us so much anxiety and stress.

I observed myself for an entire week: every time a triggering event happened I took a breath, I avoided responding immediately and I put some distance between me and the event.

The result: more than 80 % of the time my lack of instant reaction allowed things to evolve by themselves, in a more positive way. And as a general rule I wasted less time and energy than usual and I felt much better.

Lock up the problem and take two steps away. Above all ask yourself: ”In the grand scheme of things that matter to me, how important is what's going on here?"

You will soon realise that most of the time what is sucking your attention and time is not so relevant and you will begin to make better choices regarding what truly deserves your energy.