Five Things I Learned from Len Deighton
August 20, 2020
Colonia del Sacramento
September 10, 2020

Golden Days

Photo by Ivan Obolensky

We rarely recognize golden days when we are living them.

Good can only be evaluated by what we consider bad, and bad by what we consider good. Contrast determines the difference. Habitually, we focus on the specific, and it is the narrowness of that focus which allows us to omit what is often a broader and, perhaps, happier perspective.

I recall receiving worried inquiries from out-of-state friends concerning the wildfires of California a few years ago. To them, I lived in an inferno. To me, it wasn’t the case at all. What caused such a vast difference in perceptions? The answer was the framing – the focus that was used.

Perceptions are always developed by the mental and physical frames we utilize. My friends saw burning images on little screens. It follows then that if flames are all we see, then flames are all that exist. They saw flames. I didn’t.

I think it worth noting that framing can just as easily broaden a point of view as constrain it.

If the devil is in the details, then perhaps God is in the broad open spaces.

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