Changing Lenses to Avoid the Status Quo

 

“I hate a Roman named Status Quo!” he said to me. “Stuff your eyes with wonder,” he said, “live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,” he said, “shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.”
― Ray Bradbury

 

I believe fully in the adage that every day we need to do something that we have never done before. It needn’t be something that involves money. It could be talking to someone new. Especially if it is the type of person you would never see yourself talking to. If you are a business executive chat with a homeless person. If you are a socialist, talk to a conservative. If you are jewish, talk to a Muslim or a Buddhist. Seek out people who are different and really hear what they have to see. Find out what fears and dreams you have in common.
Explore your surroundings. Turn down a different street and see what is there. Go places you never have. Play tourist in your own city. A few days ago, I found out where the cruise ships dock here in Vancouver and explored the area imagining that I was from a different country and this was my first experience of Vancouver. It was amazing seeing a place I have lived for fifteen years for the first time.
We tend to view life through lenses made up of our expectations. These lenses can become strait-jackets if we’re not careful. They lock our perceptions in place. Constantly altering the lenses can expand our viewpoints exponentially. What have you done differently today?
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Dinner TimeDinner Time by G A Rosenberg

 

Electric SurgeElectric Surge by G A Rosenberg