Can't See the Forest...

It is eight o four. By now I have usually finished my blog post and am posting it. I have ideas for future blog posts in my head, one that takes more research, one that needs photographs. I have looked on Facebook, Twitter, through Explore Howard and Columbia Patch. The blog post for today? Missing in action.

I have said before that I am a miniaturist--I look for the one small thing to focus my light on. I use it as a jumping-off point to talk about something bigger. Some days those small things don't leap out demanding to be seen. Today I find myself scanning, scanning, engaged in a frustrating game of I Spy while my morning minutes slip away.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Yes, but there a days when we feel as though we have our faces mashed up against it, looking for something meaningful, and yet seeing nothing. The panic of a fifty-word word search puzzle stirs within us: I can't see it!

And that is when I realized what was missing. Perspective.

Sometimes you have to back up to take a better picture. Try a different angle.
Is it the light source that is the problem? Is the subject crowded out by unnecessary clutter? Does your picture lack balance, symmetry? Maybe you are too close to see clearly.

Today, as I take a step back, I see a swirl of too many ideas: the end of the school year, the devastation in Oklahoma, Village politics, Bridge Columbia,pool season approaching, grief, anxiety, gratitude. It isn't that I don't have any ideas. I have too many. And not enough perspective.

So today I will consciously take a step back, take a deep breath, and wait for the noise to settle.

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