I was having an energizing and engaging conversation with a friend and colleague the other day.  We were talking about how so many folks seem to be operating out of fear, and are looking at their life through a very narrow and constricted lens.  It is as if you want to be the” broader perspective police” and instruct folks, “Stop, step away from the curb, there is more to be seen here!” Thanks Dan!

When we are caught in fear and anxiety, we have a tendency to narrow our focus and lose perspective. This is a legacy gift from our ancestral past, when fear and anxiety were stimulated by threats that could be life ending.  Most of what we experience today does not come with such profound potential.  So, the instinctual responses of freeze, fight or flight, do not help with our more complex concerns. Being reactive is less helpful when complexity is knocking at the door of your concerns.

A more helpful choice is to respond, not react, by pausing for a moment and taking a good look around the entirety of the situation.  Instead of reacting to what is immediately in front of us, pause and look around to assess a broader perspective.  The benefits being that we see ourselves more systemically – connected to the whole. We are not just our isolated selves in the midst of some random chaos. We are connected to a larger whole of relationships with others.  And what I choose to do in response to my concerns, effects all my connections in the environment – intended or unintended.

There is not only the issue of what we have to give to the broader system; there is what we can receive. Take a broader perspective and see who and what is available to you – what do “we” have to offer you. All of this reminds me of and African proverb. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”  Let’s go far together.  It is the only way we will be able to sustainably solve the complex and systemic problems we face together in the world, our work, and our relationships.

Stop! There is something to see here – it is us connected. Our innate connection to the whole gives me hope.