Change the Details
What do we see when we see “the bigger picture”? What influences our conclusions when we read the story in full? What moves us when we hear the full orchestra? How much of what we learn anew is actually new? How much of it is reinforcement of existing bias which we have used to paint with, to describe with and to hear with the “new” experience? When the picture, the story or the music is to our liking it might not be so bad to reinforce what we already enjoy, but when it’s bad, then we find ourselves creating a worse experience with every “new” thing that we taint with our “old” biases.
We can change the experience by seeing, feeling and hearing the details. Notice a small detail that you can control, and you can change the whole story. Notice a small detail that you can enhance, then you can change the whole picture. Notice the small details that you can mute, then you can change the whole tune. Seeing the details in your everyday experiences can empower you to make changes that will improve your strength, your perception and your confidence in society.
It’s overwhelming to “get healthy”, especially when you’re not. Where do you start? Weight-loss? Types of food you don’t eat, types of food you do eat? Exercise? Stretching? Meditating? Sleep? Skincare? Dentalcare? Glasses? The list is endless and as a bigger picture very demoralising. Start with a detail, especially one you find easy or enjoyable. Even if that’s all you do, you made yourself healthier there, and that matters. So, if the easiest thing is to get your eyes checked, get yourself good glasses and now it’s easier to focus your vision – and now you can read the books you were struggling with, and now you see the details of pictures, and now you can see smiles beaming your way – that matters. Or if the easiest thing is stretching – changing your sitting positions, releasing trapped energy from your body, waking up your muscles and expanding their movement range – that matters. And once you’ve taken control over one detail, it becomes easier to move on and take control of another. Before you know it, you’ve reclaimed your body and made yourself the picture of health.
Getting a grasp on reality is baffling in an age when so many “facts” and so many “feelings” get entangled. But using facts that you know together with values that you hold, you can evaluate new pieces of information, one bit at a time. And when it becomes too much, move away from the tsunami of information, be it your phone, tv, or someone you’re speaking to, and focus on what’s right in front of you. History is full of biased storytellers. Narrate the story of your own environment, and live the details as you wish the story to be told.
Finding your place amongst your family, your friends, your community is like finding the right note to create a perfect harmonious chord. Just because someone is on an “offkey” doesn’t mean that we lack the ability to adjust our frequency/tone/octave so that we can hum together a pleasant tune. And just because someone lures us with a seductive song, doesn’t mean we will match in our tempo. But we can concentrate on the few people we want to be with and accept the few people we have to be with find a way to adjust our rhythm so that we can create a melody we can move to together in this raucous world.
We are not totally helpless; the world is not outside our grasp. We are a detail in the world, a detail that matters. And when we can see other details, feel them and hear them, then we put ourselves in a position to change them and change the world to be a beautiful world. A world that is picture-perfect in our little corner of the big puzzle; a world with a happy story line in our little chapter; a world with a melody that makes us want to dance in our little passage of the worldly symphony. Notice the details around you and change them as you prefer them to be.