We have all heard the suggestion that when facing a challenge it is a good idea to stop and look at the scene from a different vantage point. Putting yourself into the shoes of the other person to understand their point of view. Or even
simply stepping back from the challenge and looking at it in a disassociated stance. This means you look at the whole scenario as if you were watching it play out on a screen or stage where you can objectively view the whole scene and understand it better than when you are engulfed deep in the activity. This process really does help a lot when working through a challenge.
In our slow beats yoga class the other day, I decided to speak about perspective. Instead of re-hashing the view point strategy, I highlighted a recent TV show that we have been watching about space exploration. It is centered in an alternate universe where history events went a different way than how we know them to be. Because of that change, their society is making progress in space travel albeit with their own set of challenges.
That got me thinking about space and the stars and the sheer enormity of it all. We fret and worry about our stresses here on earth, our relationships, our work duties, what we should eat, what we should look like, whether or not we should paint the wall blue or green. When I start to think about our place in the universe, I am forced to come up with two conclusions. Either what we are doing here on earth is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things or what we are doing here is part of a much larger and very important plan. Let me explain....
The speed of light is 300,000 km/s. That is ridiculously fast and is the fastest that anything in our universe can travel. In one year (a light-year), light will travel 9.46 trillion kilometres. Our solar system and the earth are 4.5 billion years old. Our galaxy, the milky way, is home to over 100 million stars. The next closest galaxy is Andromeda and it is 2.5 million light years away. 2.5 million light years. That is 2.5 million times 9.46 trillion kilometres away from us. At light speed, it takes 2.5 million years to get there. And that is the closest one. Astronomers have also located a galaxy 5 billion light years away from us. There are millions of galaxies out there. Each of them with millions of stars. Millions of planets. Quite possibly millions of planets like Earth with people like us.
So why are we here and only live for such a short period of time? Why do these galactic places exist where it seems like there is no way to ever get there to visit? How important is the wall color when you compare it to the enormity of the cosmos and our place within it?
When I look at the world from this perspective, I like to believe that we are here for a reason. A valid purpose. And even though it seems like we are very small, perhaps life has been designed this way on purpose. That what we do, the decisions we make, the people we touch: all of it matters. Our role is to be the best person we can be and to help others on our life journey.
There is a theory I heard about life that I shared with the yoga class. Theories are simply thoughts that can not be proven one way or the other. This one is fun to think about. The idea is this: every person in the world is actually the same person. You are born, you live your life and when you die, you are reincarnated into another. The theory suggests that time is relative and not a linear progression. That you can be born into another person along the same time-line as a previous lifetime. When you interact with another person, you are in fact interacting with yourself, living another life, going through different challenges and experiences. Occasionally feeling a connection with another person that you can't quite explain. And these life experiences are repeated over and over again as we learn and see the world from every perspective taking in everything we can. We are all connected. We are all one and the same.
As wild of a theory as that may be, there is some truth to it. We have many more similarities with each other than we have differences. We are all connected. Maybe we are not the exact same person but wouldn't it be nice if everybody treated everyone as if that were true? The old adage of treating others the way that you yourself would like to be treated rings loud and true in this scenario. So to be safe, just in case this theory turns out to be true, be nice to others and remember to be kind to yourself. And lastly, obviously, the wall should be painted blue.