Perspective

I am off today and it feels great just to hang around the house for the morning with my dog.  Long weekend at work but it was very productive.  Today I have spent most of the morning with my ear buds in, doing some chores around the house and putting in some serious bonding time with Reno.  Music is one of the things in life I would have a hard time going without.  Right along with Food, Water and the Yankees. Mad, Sad, Happy, Glad, there is a song for every mood and my iPod has been with me for all of them.  Lately I have been into putting together playlists to listen to rather than just putting on an album or shuffling through the whole catalog.

One of the only things I hate about fall is the falling leaves.  They look great when they change color, but when they die and fall off the tree they create such a monotonous maintenance problem.  Cleaning them up blows, its as simple as that.  Leaves have this wonderful knack for clogging up the gutters which inevitably leads to me climbing on the roof to clear them out a couple times each fall.  It is one of those tasks that really isn't a big deal, and it doesn't even take that long, but you still find yourself irritated by it and complaining to yourself about it as you get out the ladder.

Every time I am up there I always take a moment to look around.  Taking in the view of the yard and the neighborhood around me.  Looking out past the back yard I can see off towards Wind Gap beyond.  Things look exactly the same, and yet different from the roof top.  It always strikes me how changing your perspective can change the very way that you view things.  Of course in a literal sense this is simple logic, but if you apply this same concept to your interactions with people in your life it can be a valuable tool. This is nothing new by any means, but how often do we actually do this?  I find myself that it is much easier to get angry than it is to take a moment to analyze why someone is doing whatever it is they might be doing.  There are definitely times when people are just being an idiot, but for those times that they are not isn't it worth taking that moment to put yourself in there shoes before you draw any conclusions?

A serious conflict occurs: Jumping to conclusions and stubbornly standing by them has been something I have done all too often in the past.  Drawing a line in the sand and than building a wall to block out anything contradictory to the judgment I have passed.  The most severe instances have always involved matters of the heart, because these are the situations where I feel the most vulnerable.  I have done it with my mother, there have been moments with close friends, girl friends, the people closest to me.  Once that wall is up there are really only two ways things can go. Either that relationship never recovers and is effectively ended, or after a long period of time there is that moment of reconciliation where someone finally gives in. 

So much time wasted.  And generally it could all be averted by simply taking a step back and looking at the situation from a different angle, a new perspective.