Being Too Close To The Picture

One of my good friends, David Terzibachian, taught me an analogy about a picture frame that I’ve found creates a really compelling point around perspective.

In each of our own lives we experience the things around us through the very narrow lens that is 'us'. We’re limited by our own perception, we shape things to fit into our mental models and beliefs, and we struggle to take a truly objective look at our choices and reality because we’re emotionally invested in it.

The analogy is - Each of us are figures in a picture frame. We’re the main character, front and center, dominating the picture. But since we’re in the photo we have a limited awareness of what’s happening around us in the rest of the photo. We might have some idea about what’s going on, but we cannot see the full-picture because we are in it.

When you acknowledge that you have a limited understanding of your own life, and you embrace what you don’t see with an open-mind and curiosity, you can allow yourself to see the bigger picture and accept yourself. You can forgive yourself for mistakes you make because they came from a limited awareness.

In other words, to fully understand ourselves and to maximize our potential, we need to see the full picture. But if a lot of what’s in the picture are things we’re incapable of seeing ourselves, or unwilling to see ourselves, then how are we meant to accomplish it?

This is where other people can come in and inform you on what’s happening. Other people are not in your picture, which means that they can take a step back and see more than you can. 

Have a hard time seeing the blessing and lesson learned in failure? Someone else might.

Not realizing how a belief is guiding your behavior and manifesting the same problem over and over again? Someone else could.

Reaching your goals and making serious progress but you don’t even see it? Someone else is already celebrating for you.

Now this isn’t a perfect process because when it comes to sharing what they see, everyone brings their own biases, judgments, and assumptions into their conclusions, which may or may not be helpful. That’s why it’s recommended to have a coach, or someone you trust to give you feedback, to tell you what they see.

In the last 2 years I’ve been working with a coach who is helping me to see my full picture and I cannot understate how much it has accelerated my growth and self-awareness.

To wrap this up - You are too close to your life to see everything that’s happening around you and even who you are within it. If you’re committed to breaking through your current limitations and grow into the next best version of yourself, you need an expansion of awareness and perspective to tell you what you’re not seeing, and that often comes from someone else who can see the full picture.