by Norman Bennett

Created on: March 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 28, 2009

Can we ever actually make a bad choice in life, or does our perspective just change about the choices we've made?

Once you reach a goal, do you often find your objective distasteful? Do you work towards something for sometimes years, and after achieving success, become dissatisfied with your newly enriched life situation? Shouldn't you be victorious? Shouldn't you be celebrating?

The answer has to do with the theory of relativity. All things - thoughts and feelings included - are relative. At the time you fought so hard and worked with little thought towards discomfort or pain, you were visualizing the moment when you would triumph over your adversities. You were visualizing a place with less problems. A place where you would not have the pain and suffering you were diligently enduring while your eye was on the prize. You created a world with less emphasis on pain by focusing on a world which would someday be painless. Then, as your creation unfolded, you look at your life from a different perspective than before. You have a new reality. And everything in your life is now relative to your new view.

When I'm out in nature, I sneak along through the woods at a snail's pace. Stopping at very minute intervals to scan the woods. Every single time, when I get ready to take a few steps, I think I have spied every twig and rock and bush in the area. Upon taking a step or two, I look around at an entirely new woods, seeing bushes and trees and rocks as if they have appeared out of nowhere just from moving a few feet.

This is what is happening when we change something in our lives. Our new view is now relative to where we are currently standing - not where we were - and everything looks completely different from this new perspective. It did not matter what I visualized the woods would look like from a few feet away. It did not matter how hard that few feet was to move. It did not matter how bad I wanted to see from another few feet away. I had to realize... I am where I am and this is my perspective, and before I prematurely move to another location I had better see things very clearly from where I am. Before I move on I must not miss the opportunity that I gave myself by putting myself here. If I don't honor and respect where I am right now, my urge to see something new will cause me to miss what is right in front of me... "This is present moment awareness!"

What if you recognize this "present moment awareness" and you're not too thrilled with what you see? Maybe you've

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>