by Joan Courtney, C.Ht.

Unstuck Living

I’m playing with taking some pictures with my cell phone. (And playing is the operative word.) If I see something that strikes my interest, I take a shot. Or two. Okay, quite a few, for I have heard professional photographers take thousands of shots to find that perfect picture.

I was at the local library the other day and saw the roses in front of the building. Breathtaking. At first, I took a close-up shot. The yellow pistils were so clear, the petals so perfect. Then I wondered what would happen if I stepped back and took a different view. That shot showed more roses, but lost the intensity of the close-up perspective. When I stepped back even further, I had a view of the entire bed of roses: vibrant, alive, bursting with color. And a very different point of view.

I found this to be similar to how I live my life. If I get frustrated about something or angry about a situation, I lose my perspective. I can feel only the intensity of my emotions. My negative thoughts persist and block my progress in reaching a solution. When this occurs, my breathing gets shallow, my thought process shuts down and I ruminate about what’s happening. Just as in the closeup of the single rose, my feelings ramp up and get more and more intense. And I lose perspective.

One remedy? Take a walk. I harness The Toot, put on his leash and out we go. Fresh air and a change of scenery can change my perspective. So can a phone call to a friend. Or some playtime with Toot. As I return to the issue, I have a fresh perspective. I have some mental distance from the situation, and my emotions are calmer. Similar to taking that second shot of a few roses, other options surface. I can sort them out and see what is more appropriate.

If I need to distance myself even further, I will turn the problem over to my subconscious mind as I drift off to sleep. That marvelous part of my mind sorts through strategies and other ways of doing, usually arriving at a solution by morning. Not taking this for granted, I thank that part of my awareness for solving what I thought to be a hopeless problem. (I found that this part of me likes to be complimented.) A simple change of perspective can make a tremendous difference and save energy.

On the go and need a quick reset? Here’s what I do. When an issue returns to my mind and I start on the hamster wheel of those “same old thoughts,” I picture myself sitting in a theater. The problem, with all its players, is on stage. I watch and listen, seeing what’s going on from a very different point of view. My emotions are not clouding what I perceive. I often realize it’s not all about me; that other people have their own issues playing a part in this drama. A change in perspective is then quick and easy. I have some distance and can more clearly figure out what is going on. Living unstuck.



Having over 35 years of experience, Joan Courtney is a clinical hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. Writing for Outdoors Southwest and other publications on the Mountain, she also ghostwrites bi-weekly posts for Lil’ toot, the Canine Executive Officer of Unstuck Living.