Getting to a Better Place

Getting to a Better Place--

What do I need to do to take myself to a better place in this new year?  That is a question facing each one of us.  It is a question with a basketful of possibe responses.

The first step might be to examine our present place.  I am sure you realize that I am not writing about geography.  On second thought, maybe we should examine our location.  With all this cold and snow,  a change of scenery could be just what is needed for our sanity.  I love my home and my roommate, however................!

The first place for me to think about is that round globe that sets on my shoulders.   That globe of stuff is my window to the world.  Everything I see, think, feel, smell, hear comes at me through that computer that never stops.  It is always churning away with information to store and retrieve.  It teaches me about my world but only through my eyes.  And therein, lies a challenge.

I am only one very small dot in a very large matrix.  All those other dots belong to other people who are having similar but different responses to the exact same situations as I.  When I really think about that, I realize that my perceptions might be wrong.  Yes, I said I might see things through a lens that is slightly blurred.   So might they.  This calls for moving to a better place.

Correcting a blurred lens requires a change.  It is common to see things through our own life experiences.  But, what if we were able to see beyond ourselves?  That requires a shift in our lens.   This shift could mean that we really try to understand life from a different point of view.  This shift is not easy.  There is comfort in our personal point of view.  And there is security.   Any effort made to move to a better place will certainly bring confusion as we reach for the best place.  Is it worth the effort?

That is a personal question that each of us must wrestle with.  A thought-- just because we have held certain beliefs for years and years does not make those beliefs gospel.  Taking a hard second look at our own spot may require change.  I do know about this.  It is slow and painful.  But, once the better place is our new residence, we experience an openess to the world and all the people in it.

A better place could mean a new relationship.  Or working on a persent one.  It could mean letting go of a toxic situation in order to find peace.  It could mean refusing to allow negative thoughts about others to reside within us.  It could mean taking that first step to try that thing we have been putting off due to fear of failure.  It could mean embracing life with real gusto.  It could mean laughing more.  It could mean trying to spend less.  It could mean cherishing those relationships that bring us such joy.  It could mean supporting another person as they move to their better place.  It could be becoming that encourager that the world needs.  It could mean anything that you want it to mean.

This much I do know about moving to a better place.  It is a journey.  It is not a destination.  We may reach certain points and feel a sense of arrival.   But, really, life is totally about the journey.

What is your better place?  What is mine?  May our journey be full of discovery.