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Jacob Held Quote on Perspective and How What We See Is A Reflection of Who We Are

    “We can’t change what life is, but we can change how we react to and interpret it.”

    Jacob Held

    Beyond the Quote (148/365)

    To start, a story of two dogs. Both at separate times walk into the same room. One comes out wagging his tail while the other comes out growling. A woman watching this goes into the room to see what could possibly make one dog so happy and the other so mad. To her surprise she finds a room filled with mirrors. The happy dog found a thousand happy dogs looking back at him while the angry dog saw only angry dogs growling back at him. What you see in the world around you is a reflection of who you are.

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      “Zooming out helps us to think more in the long term and recognize patterns so we don’t overreact in the short term.  Life isn’t what happens to us; it’s how we deal with it, and how we deal with it always depends on the perspectives we can find.  Zooming out helps us realize that the story is still playing out, and we shouldn’t rush to any conclusions.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 140)

      The Dalai Lama Quote on Handling Problems by Zooming Out and Looking From a Broader Perspective

        “When we help others, the focus of our mind assumes a broader horizon within which we are able to see our own petty problems in a more realistic proportion.  What previously appeared to be daunting and unbearable, which is what often makes our problems so overwhelming, tends to lose its intensity.”

        Dalai Lama, The Art of Happiness

        Beyond the Quote (60/365)

        This is where the idea of “first world problems” comes from.  We will complain about and feel overwhelm from the problems that are prevalent in our world—as small or as large as that world is.  If our world is small from inexperience or lack of opportunity, then our small problems will appear to be big.  If our world is large from a plethora of experiences and plentiful opportunities, then even our “large” problems will appear to be small.  If what we have to complain about, for example, is some stupid thing someone said to us, and our world is small and we don’t have anything else affecting us, then why would we complain and worry about anything else?  That which doesn’t immediately affect us doesn’t immediately concern us.  The entire scope of our focus is directed at the only thing that is calling for it, which in this case, is the stupid thing someone said to us.  That is our entire world and that is our only problem to focus on.  Until it’s not.

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          “When I hear somebody sigh that life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?'” ~ Sydney J. Harris