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It can be very difficult to maintain balance when it feels like we are under assault and our problems become the center of our focus. From this perspective our problems can seem downright overwhelming.
A narrow focus can cause us to lose sight of the big picture. From this exaggerated view of reality we may not be able to access the internal resources to deal with those challenges in the best possible way.
Can we shrink those problems down to size?
At such times, it can be very helpful to step back and have a look at the big picture. Doing so will not make our problems go away, but it will make them more manageable and help us to gain an entirely new perspective.
If we are dealing with some very serious challenges, we might need to look at the really big picture. Remember, the purpose of this is not to minimize the seriousness of your problems or their effect on your reality. All we are doing is making things feel more manageable by altering our perspective.
OK, let the shrinking process begin.
In this big picture, each of us is a microscopic speck on planet Earth.
As we make the big picture even bigger, notice . Jupiter has about 1300 times the volume of Earth, and aside from the sun, is larger and more massive than every other planet combined.
Now let’s make the big picture even bigger and compare the size of the Sun with the planets that orbit it. The sun is 1,287,000 km bigger than the Earth. In other words, you could fit over a million earths inside the Sun. That speck in the middle of Jupiter is the Earth. Are your problems feeling smaller?
We can keep going if you like! The big picture continues to gain magnitude when we consider that the diameter of Arcturus is 24.5 time that of our sun! It could easily contain billions of Earths.
And if you thought Arcturus was the big picture, check this out. Antares is a class M supergiant star, with a diameter of approximately 700 times that of the sun; if it were placed in the center of our solar system, its outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
How big are those problems now that you’ve seen the big picture?
The point is this; when we focus on our problems our world shrinks and our problems seem to expand. When we step back and consider the really big picture, we gain a more balanced perspective. So, seeing our problems compared to the big picture actually empowers us to deal with life’s problems more effectively because they no longer feel insurmountable.
