#1683 How to Get Perspective

Many moons ago, we explored some Living Untethered wisdom from Michael Singer as we chatted about traveling at the speed of light.

As you may recall…

The Sun is a staggering 93 million miles away. ☀️

It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the Sun’s rays to arrive on planet Earth.

The next closest star (Proxima Centauri) is 4.2 light years away. 🌟

That’s 2.5 QUADRILLION miles away.

Yes, my head just exploded as well.

😲 🤯 !!!

You know how many stars there are in the (known) universe?

Billions.

You know how far all of them are from one another?

About the same distance… Quadrillions of miles.

You know how big that makes our universe?

Unfathomably big.

And…

Best part?

It’s still expanding.

If that doesn’t lead to a series of exploding head emojis, I don’t know what will.

😲 🤯 !!!

😲 🤯 !!!

😲 🤯 !!!

Now…

I like to use that interstellar perspective to gain some perspective on MY LIFE challenges here on little ‘ol planet Earth. 🌎

I also like to throw the Moon in to get perspective. 🌕

You know how far away the Moon is?

240,000 miles. Roughly.

You know how long it takes the Sun’s rays to bounce off the moon and hit your eyeball?

1 second.

So…

Here’s my little perspective-building practice.

First, let’s start with a REALLY big problem you’re currently facing.

I mean…

A HUGE problem.

😉

Now…

If you feel so inspired…

Take a step back from that problem for a moment and let’s put it in perspective.

Start by creating just a TINY little space in your mind.

Step back OUT of ruminating about your problem and SEE IT from a slightly detached perspective.

Got it?

Amazing.

You already DRAMATICALLY reduced it’s toxic pull on your consciousness and you’re ALREADY much closer to solving it with that slightly more spacious perspective.

Now…

If you feel so inspired…

Strap on a jetpack or an Ironman suit or whatever you think would most powerfully and quickly get you up to the Moon.

Recall: The Moon is 240,000 miles away. It takes astronauts about THREE DAYS to get there (traveling at an average of 3,333 miles per hour).

But…

For our purposes, you can travel at the speed of light.

So….

Your magical jetpack gets you to the Moon in ONE SECOND.

BOOM.

You’re there.

Now…

Please look down at the Earth and tell me about YOU and your HUGE (!) problem. 😉

That’s Part 1 of the exercise.

If you feel so inspired…

Let’s continue our journey all the way to the Sun.

But…

Before you go, please take a moment and grab the Earth in your hand. (Yes, you’re now very big.) We’re going to use the Earth as a baseball and throw it into the Sun.

Note: I like to do a little copy/paste of the Earth and then remove the people so I don’t feel bad throwing the people on Earth into the Sun. 🤓

Now…

Grab your copy of the Earth and get ready to fly 93 MILLION miles to get to the Sun.

We’re going to fly considerably faster than the speed of light. Rather than the normal 8 minutes and 20 seconds, we’re going to activate the super-duper rockets on your jetpack and get there in 8 seconds.

And…

BOOM.

We’re there.

You’re hovering far enough away from the Sun to throw the Earth into it’s massiveness.

You know how many Earths fit into the Sun?

Over 1 MILLION of them.

Yes.

That’s insanely huge.

You’re going to be busy for a while throwing 1 MILLION Earths into the Sun.

Now…

Please take a break and see if you can look back from the Sun and find the original Earth back there and remind yourself of your HUGE (!) problem. 😉

And…

If you feel so inspired, continue the thought exercise by spending another FOUR YEARS traveling at the speed of light just to get to the CLOSEST STAR of BILLIONS of such-spaced stars.

And…

THAT’S what I like to imagine when I inevitably get up in the middle of the night thinking about one of MY huge problems. 😉

Then I silently say to myself: “240,000 + 93 MILLION + 2.5 QUADRILLION.”

And…

That’s one way to get perspective on our challenges.

And…

That’s Today’s +1.

Here’s to using every tool in our tool belt to live with Wisdom, Discipline, Love, and Courage…

TODAY.