There has been this song, or at least a line of a song, rattling around in my mind this past week. I don't know for sure if it's from a Saturday morning cartoon, or Sesame Street or the Electric Company or where exactly I remember it from so many years ago.
The line is this: That's about the size, where you put your eyes? That's about the size of it. (It's a lot better sung than just reading it). If anyone knows where it is from, please let me know.
The song was about how we see things. About how differently objects appear depending on how close or how far away from them we are. It came to me Monday while I was out mowing the back yard. I started thinking about how small the yard seems today compared to when I was growing up.
Years ago, I would leap off the swing and begin running for the far end of the yard. Because it took so long to reach my destination, I would turn around half way and go back to the swing.
Today, there is almost nothing to it. Unless of course the temperature is 90 degrees, it has rained for a week straight, the grass is 2 feet tall, trees begin growing in the fences, the sun beats down brighter than ever before and the mower keeps clogging up because of it all. Then it is a huge yard.
It's all in how you look at it.
Speaking of how we see things, there is a danger in doing the same things the same way day after day. We become blinded to so much that is out there. Everything seems the same, looks the same, smells the same, goes by at the same pace, day--after day--after day.
We put ourselves into a sort of rut because we only see things in one way. While it makes us feel better to blame our job, our boss, our friends, our in-laws, the dog, telemarketers, co-workers, the weather, our pet rock or just because we were born under a bad sign for our life as it is, truth is, it has all been our choice.
Because in most cases, we have gotten ourselves into this, we can change it. To do it, we need to see things differently.
In Dead Poets Society, John Keating (played by Robin Williams) is an English teacher who wants to get his students to see life differently than they have.
To do so, he begins in a small way? by having them stand up on his desk in the classroom. It is just a classroom. The same classroom they have come to day after day. But seeing things from 29 inches off the ground can provide an entirely different view of the world.
Now I don't advise anyone to knock off everything from the dining room table and climb on top, just keep it simple. Take a different way to work, re-arrange furniture, change your routine a little bit. You'll be surprised at how different 1 hour can make things seem.
Finally, perception is something in which 650 words can not do justice. There is so much more to it than just seeing things differently, although that has a lot to do with it.
There are still our perceptions of ourselves, of our surroundings, of others, of what others think of us, of what we think others think of us and so many more combinations.
In a way, perception is who we are, who we can be, what we can do and where we can go. The best news? We have the power. We are in control. We can change it if we don't like what we see. As the song says, (and maybe a bit of a re-write can be used someday), that's about the size, where I put my eyes? that's about the size of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment