Living Wide Open

Do you ever look at your life like someone else may look at it? Do you ever take yourself out of yourself, and look at your life from a different perspective? As if you aren't you? Like looking at yourself through a camera lens.

I do that sometimes. I remove myself from me, from all the emotions and ego, and just examine what I've been paying attention to. And I ask myself, is this worth putting any energy into? If my attention is hooked, then I've invested some kind of energy - positive or negative. If I devote any energy to it, then I must care about it in some way.

Let's face it, if we don't care about something or someone, we simply don't devote any thought or energy to it. It doesn't hold our attention for one second. It's like this blog. Have I hooked your attention? Enough to read it? If I have, then you've devoted some energy to it. Now, I can ask you, what did you feel about it? Anything? If I hooked your attention enough to read it, if it's meaningful to you, you will feel something about it, hopefully something positive.

If it's not meaningful in any way, you may feel I've wasted your time. And then you will forget it. A fleeting moment lost. But perhaps you're angry that I've wasted your time. So you write a nasty comment, venting your anger at my blog. And thus, I have hooked your attention enough for you to care to elicit an emotion and to make a comment. And if I respond to your negativity, then you have hooked my attention enough for me to care and perpetuated that negative energy.

But sometimes that camera that we look at life through, has a very narrow lens perspective on it.

I know there's a quote by Maya Angelou that says something to the effect that people may not remember what you say, but they always remember how you made them feel. Now, I do have a bit of an issue with this, because no one can 'make' us feel anything we don't choose to feel. But people do remember the energy one emits. And it's up to us, whether we choose to emit positive or negative energy. If the energy one emits is always negative, then it isn't any wonder that other's don't want to be around that kind of energy on a consistent basis.

In widening our focus, we get to see so much more than the pithiness of ourselves. That as much as our lives are about us, our own dramas, our own plays, our own tragedies, our own comedies, they really are about living wider than our own narrow perspective. About loving and accepting ourselves enough to be able to share that with others. Not in a way of trying to control what they think, do, say, or believe, but in a way that benefits them - giving them what they truly need. When we help others, we help them believe in themselves. Of course, the payoff is that we get to feel good as well.

And I truly think that's what life is about. Not hoarding who we are - but sharing ourselves. Not seeing what is wrong with everyone else, but seeing what is right. Not concerning ourselves with what others do wrong, but only in our own goals and what we can do 'right'.

And I think that's what optimism is. Living wide. Seeing life through a wide-angle lens. Seeing that everyone has something of value to offer, even if it's to teach us what we don't want in our lives. To help those that actually want and need our help. Being able to 'scan' with the wide angle lens, and then narrow the focus only on those things and people that are worthy of hooking our attention, emotions and energy.

I don't think it's ever too late to learn how to live wide. To change one's focus and perspective. To not only feel good oneself, but to help others feel good about themselves. And it's up to us whether we want to focus on the positive or negative.

We all deserve the abundance that this life offers and to share it. We all deserve to be happy and feel loved. We all have value and deserve to live the fullest life possible.

Open up the lens as much as you can. Live wide open.