the big picture

Come, come, whoever you are.Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times. Come, yet again, come, come. –Rumi

I woke up this morning and realized the year is nearly half gone. June is around the bend and what have I accomplished? A lot. A few weeks ago, I jotted a list from last year and explored my vision is for the rest of this year. However, a quick review revealed I'm already drifting away on some tangents. 

To not torture myself with the past, vows broken or when I repeat patterns of distraction and to celebrate what I have done and be grateful for what went right in the past year is at the heart of viewing the big picture. 

Gently exploring times in the past when I wasn't fully the person I wanted to be, I turn to a ritual I use to help me let go: Writing. When I jot it down, then, worries are soon forgotten. Sure, there's a few things I cling to. Ok, I admit, I'm cling wrap on certain vices, but for the most part when I pour out my thoughts onto a page, I begin to see how to make the necessary changes. It's like I can see the forest through the trees. 

There's a beautiful video circulating documenting astronauts about their experiences in space. At first some thought that seeing the moon from outer space for the first time would be the most transformational thing about the mission. You know, one small step for mankind... 

Instead, it was The looking back. When they turned around and viewed the earth from outer space they marveled at the vastness of the universe, the fragility of our planet and the significance of what they were witnessing which revealed a "new kind of self awareness": we are one. 

It's great to have a plan for where you're going but then to be able to look back and be awestruck by the miracle of being alive and the profoundness of what you have created, that's the beauty. 

It's the beauty of your impact and the ripples you create in this world. 

May each of us vow (again and again) to be more loving at home and at work; to make goodness cool and kindness hip; to take a stand for justice; and to be awestruck by the miracle of being alive. To come, wherever we are and view the big awesome picture.