Perspective

Hello There Beloved Reader-
It has been far too long since I have had a good long chat with you, and today seemed like the day to remedy that issue. I have been pondering, dwelling, thinking, chewing, digesting and contemplating on a word lately, and this word is what brought me here to you today.
Ha Ha, that just made me think of Sesame Street, ya know the whole...  "Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the Letter 'h' "   ADHD moment there.  Sorry, moving on... The word I've really been thinking a lot about lately ... (when my mind doesn't wander off to Sesame Street)  is 
PERSPECTIVE.

I snapped this shot today on my walk with my sister Jen. 

Now, not many of you may know this but I'm a native Nevadian.

Actually, I was born in South Lake Tahoe at Barton Memorial Hospital on the California side of the mountain so technically I'm native but not. 

I used to always claim that being born in California made me not a native, but that was then.

Whatever! The point I'm trying to make is that I've been here a long ass time kinda loathing this dry desert place, but recently that has kind of shifted. 

It has taken me a very long time to find beauty in this dry desert place, but by golly I think I'm onto something, because that little scene above looks beautiful to me.

Sure, it isn't the ocean view I had the pleasure of enjoying this past weekend in Malibu, but it is pretty none the less. 

And that new perspective along with a walk and talk with my sister Jen and a few other tokens of wisdom that my Creator gave me, has brought me unspeakable joy. 

I ask you beloved reader,

Is there anyone out there who couldn't use a fresh, new perspective from time to time?

Well, if you would like to come along and sing this song with me let's start with the definition of the word Perspective.

Let's see what good Ole Webster has to say about this word that I've been devouring lately;

Webster's defines this word first by giving us the archaic meaning;
archaic

:  an optical glass (as a telescope)

After I read that first  definition I saw a friend post a pic with the quote below on it;

"The lens we look through will determine what we see."
It was after seeing that IG post that I decided to rattle off a few more thoughts about this whole perspective thing and life in general. An optical glass or telescope has a view that people pay a lot of money to see. It's a view that gives you the perspective of being small as compared to the galaxy above.  It's a view that songs are written about, and wishes are cast upon. It's a view that can't be seen at all without the correct lens. 

 

But before I get ahead of myself let's see the rest of what Webster's defines this word to mean shall we?

Webster goes on to give you 4 different definitions  ;

1

a :  the technique or process of representing on a plane or curved surface the spatial relation of objects as they might appear to the eye; specifically :  representation in a drawing or painting of parallel lines as converging in order to give the illusion of depth and distance

b :  a picture in perspective

*In regard to Websters point 1 b. I would like to say this, nothing in this life is EVER picture perfect.  But when we keep things in perspective it makes the blurry times come into focus. This life gets messy more often than not and we all fumble to try and make any sense of it. One thing I know for sure is that when we change our perspective about what appears to be blurry, smudged, messy, fuzzy or even just totally F'd up  in this life,  we realize it really was just a matter of adjusting our lens and then it all comes clear. 

2

a :  the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed perspective

>;also :  point of view

b :  the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance perspective>

3

a :  a visible scene; especially :  one giving a distinctive impression of distance :  vista

b :  a mental view or prospect perspective

 on the international scene — Current Biography>

4

:  the appearance to the eye of objects in respect to their relative distance and positions

My grandmother used to always, always sing two songs. She sang them so often and so much that even though she has been gone now for 10 years I can still hear her sweet voice singing them.  She used to sing Row, Row, Row your Boat and although it may seem just like a silly childhood song to you if you think about the words as an analogy to this life they actually make a whole lotta sense.  But, that's not the song I want to expand upon today, the other song she used to sing was this one;

Take a listen and tell me what you think? She was a wise woman my Grandma The Great! What I love about this simple song sung by Mr. Johnny is that it packs quite the punch in the perspective department, wouldn't you agree.
I have had quite a few revelations recently about how I have been viewing some things in my life and when I stopped to think about it what I realized is that all that needed to happen to make things better was that MY perspective needed to be changed.  Here's to accentuating the positive  and eliminating the negative!

Valentine Cupid Elf Gone Awry

Today I set out to be the best Valentine Cupid Elf known to the face of the earth.
I am fighting some kind of bleh funky funk, so I haven't felt so great.
Plus it was raining. (Big Surprise I know)
Normally I don't mind the rain but we recently had several days of sun, and
I was kinda getting used to that idea.

When I got to the post office with my packages all tied up in string
(not really but couldn't resist the Sound of Music quote)
I realized I forgot my address book at home.

Can you say DAM MIT!
Well, I did!

But there I was with my handy dandy new upgraded I Phone... (thank you Baby Jesus and hard working Giant), and so I started texting away for addresses.

All wasn't lost.
I was able to mail off some Valentines Day goodies.
And then I came home and read this.



“There were people who went to sleep last night,
poor and rich and white and black,
but they will never wake again.

And those dead folks would give anything at all
for just five minutes of this weather
or ten minutes of plowing.

So you watch yourself about complaining.

What you're supposed to do
when you don't like a thing is change it.
If you can't change it,
change the way you think about it.”
― Maya Angelou


And I thought, well thank you Maya