"Zoom Out" For a Better View of Your Life

You know those photos that grab your attention as you mindlessly scroll through your Facebook feed?  The ones that make you stop and scroll back up ... and click ... and save ... and change your cover photo?  I came across one of those the other day and reposted it with the comment: "This is where I LIVE!"

Here is the photo ....

Stunning isn't it?

Looking at this bird's eye view of my beloved Adirondack mountains filled me briefly with joy and a sense of wonder ... and then ... I came back to earth and saw this ...

Stunning isn't it? (actually, it's been worse)

My next thought was ... no, THIS is where I really live!  Here with the bin of tax receipts, the  unsorted mail, the school papers, the lists .. here in the "real" world.

But you know what? 

The truth is that I live in both places.  I live in the middle of the often-crazy mess and stress of raising a family and running multiple businesses AND I live in the middle of breath-taking, far-as-the-eye-can-see beauty and silence and splendor. 

So do you!

Sometimes we just have to take a few steps back in order to see the bigger picture.  If all you can see is the struggle right in front of you, life can feel small and cluttered and frantic with things that must be done.  But backing up even just a little changes the view.

Here is the view of my house if I go outside.

See ... my cluttered dining room table doesn't look so bad from this distance!

And if I were a bird and looked down on my house ... this is what I would see (thank you Google maps)

Not bad, eh ... I definitely can't see my taxes-that-need-filed from here

Fly a little higher  ...

From here, I can't see any of the things-that-keep-me-awake-at-night.  Instead, I see that my town, my county, my state are all part of a big beautiful country - filled with struggle, yes, but also amazing places to explore and infinite possibilities.

Now if I were this guy ...

This is what I would see ...

From here, I see even more beauty and hope.  I belong to an entire planet of beautiful people and places. When I see the world as my home, the problems and struggles of my own country seem smaller and my heart feel bigger as I send love to brothers and sisters around the globe.


And what if there's an even BIGGER PICTURE?

I think you get my point.

In the middle of a crazy day when your "close" life feels overwhelming, ZOOM OUT!  Just taking a few steps (or a few hundred steps) back can readjust your perspective.  Every one of the places you live is real.  Some may take your breath away with their beauty and others may make you want to crawl under the covers and hide.  But you exist in EACH PLACE at the same time, every single moment.  So you get to choose what you look at.

If you're not "feeling it" when you look at the dining room table, go outside!  Go higher.  Go farther.  Embrace more of the amazing place(s) you call home.  Allow the stunning beauty of it all to fill you with courage and purpose.


Yes, I still have to do my taxes, but I feel better now.  I live HERE! And THERE!  And I know that there is a bigger world and a bigger purpose calling to me!

YOUR TURN!  What "close-up" views feel overwhelming right now?  What bigger picture gives you courage and hope?  What purpose is calling your name?  Share below!

Here's to a beautiful view ...

Amy Jae

Of Dragons and Dishes - Living an Enchanted Life

"All the great themes (in fantasy) come from our world ... if we looked at our own lives, we'd see that they are just as enchanted.  A cup of tea here is just as enchanted as a cup of tea in Narnia.  A tree here is just as enchanted as a tree in Narnia."

-- Christopher W. Mitchell

As a child, I remember hearing an older man tell his sweet wife, "Honey, I love you enough to wrestle a bear for you.  The only problem is, there aren't any bears in our neighborhood."   We all laughed, but I've never forgotten his comment or the earnestness of his desire to prove his love.

Stories like "The Chronicles of Narnia" become classics because of our human hunger for their magic.  Our minds love to escape to great lands and our hearts swell with the tales of noble feats. Then we close the book and look at a pile of dirty dishes.

It can feel like all of the heroic, powerful ways to "prove" our love, to live courageously, to write a grand life story are things of the past or of fantasy lands.  There are so few (as in no!) continents left to conquer, so few knights charging about on horses, so few bears to wrestle.

And yet ....

When you look with different eyes, you see that all of the great themes of love, passion, pain, anger, fear, courage still play out around us every day.  They just look very very different.

*  Instead of avoiding poisonous snakes, we may recoil from a nasty political debate.
*  Instead of weeping over the death of a handsome prince, we grieve the plight of a refugee child.
*  Instead of huddling under blankets while enemy warriors circle our tent, we lie awake in the night worrying about bills.
*  Instead of fleeing a plague, we hold a loved one's hand during chemo.
*  Instead of discovering a new land, we pursue a dream filled with scary unknowns
*  Instead of wrestling a bear, we battle the negative influences in our teenager's life (I think a bear might be friendlier!).

Our battles are less with monsters and dragons and more with our own minds and hearts.  But that does not make them any less significant!

All great stories are born in struggle.  Without hard, dangerous, heart-breaking moments, there are no heroes. We do not need to escape to some fantasy world to experience the magic our hearts long for. Indeed, THIS world is filled with the stuff of the best tales ever written.

My sadness, my fears, my obstacles that feel overwhelming bear the same weight and potential for glory as those of a far off heroine who gallops through a thicket with her hair streaming behind.  Don't be fooled by these sweatpants and this frazzled ponytail.  My daily life requires the same courage, the same heart, the same love.

Through every choice I make, I am writing my own enchanted story.

A few months ago, Danielle LaPorte, creator of the Desire Map, shared this photo and the message has rung in my ears ever since.  How often my motivations twist and tangle around my needs and wants.  Whether battling a modern-day dragon or pursuing a deeply-held dream, the only thing I can control is my own motivation.  Moment by moment, I can choose what things I make important enough to fight for and "WHY."

There are a million reasons why anything gets done (including starting a blog) and many of those reasons are wonderful.  But when it's all boiled down, the only "WHY" that really matters is LOVE.  Every single day is filled with moments to choose love and when we fail, magically, the very next moment gives us another chance to get it right.

When I live and move "for the Love," even my simple, somewhat messy life begins to feel beautiful and enchanted ... my own holy ground.

And now I think I shall go and sip a cup of enchanted tea ....

-Amy Jae