A Cup of Perspective

In the early morning quiet, with a grateful sigh, I pour a perfect cup of freshly brewed coffee in the few moments of stillness before the day begins. Before the urgency and frenzy of the to-do list looms overhead, before the panicked realization of things left unfinished or forgotten from the day before dawns, before worry of the yet unknown potential outcomes of the future play out their catastrophizing what-if scenarios, I gently refuse to allow the mind entry into this most sacred time of respite, restoration and fortication that has become my morning ritual.  With each sip, with each slow exhale, I am reminded that  tension and stress need not be a default setting, if we are diligent to its attempts to overwhelm us.  And it gets me thinking about the importance of maintaining perspective, especially in the midst of highly uncertain times, both globally and more locally in our own lives.

Yes, we live in stressful, fear-inducing, anxiety-causing, uncertain times, that often leave us feeling out of control.  Every one can relate to that.  We’ve all been told how dangerous it is to internalize stress and all of the negative impacts it can have on the emotional, mental and physical bodies.  We know this.  Yet, here we are again, buying into the “oh no, oh no, oh no!” mindset, torturing ourselves with thoughts full of fear-based outcomes. No wonder we are exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Our minds are racing at an Olympic-worthy speed. One misstep at that speed and you’ll twist and ankle or fall right off the track.  You can’t possible make progress forward in a reasonable way.  You’re a runaway train at that point, destined to crash and you will never reach your destination.  And if you do, by some miracle, you’ll likely be bandaged, splinted bruised and on crutches.

A friend once referred to this as a high-speed wobble, which often feels like a near spin-out. My morning moments of stillness remind me that I don’t want to live like that. It’s amazing what a few minutes spent stepping off that drama stage can do. And maybe that’s all we need.  Just couple of minutes to more clearly see what’s before us, right here, today, right now.  Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month when the world might implode, but now.  Is it really that dire, today? In this moment?  And the answer is usually, well, no, not today, but, tomorrow... Ah! Shhh...not tomorrow, TODAY! And look for the opportunities that are showing up, TODAY, that you weren’t able to see through the fear. There’s probably at least one you didn’t notice while you were busy doing your wobble dance.  And immediately, the blood pressure goes down with relief, our creativity is allowed to bloom, and possibilities give us hope again. The exhale escapes as we are again able to breathe in a way that no longer resembles hyperventilation. 

And then the real work can begin, from a place of equilibrium.  When we take the unnecessary pressure off of ourselves to solve everything for all eternity right now, this minute.  It’s ok to not know the answer to everything. But you can’t make good choices if you are too stressed to see the facts clearly. You can always hop back on the anxiety train tomorrow, if you choose, but who would want to?  So as I reach the final drops of my morning cup of perspective, I am reminded that I have more options that I initially thought, the monsters aren’t nearly as scary as I’d feared, and I have everything I need, for today.  And tomorrow is a new day where I will do it again.  If we commit to ourselves to consciously seek balance, perspective and hope as fiercely as we bought into the stress that paralyzed us in the past, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.  Our sanity, health and well-being depend on it.