How do you See?

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” 

~ Marcus Aurelius

 ~ ~ ~

You hear that it's a matter of perspective

Of how you choose to view your world that can make all the difference 

between elation and depression

success and perceived failure

illness and health

this and that

But is it true?

Is this the magnified view of the diseased cell

that could in fact kill me

wondering if it's true that I am bound to have all sorts of diseases

because they run in the family

surely that means I am, at this moment, dying of

cancer, epilepsy, lupus, diabetes, strokes, and all the others 

that just won't fit here

I am doomed; nothing I do matters as it is my genetic fate

Or is this truly the photo of what will be left

once the world meets its demise on 12/21/12

our particles scattered amongst the stars

surely all my worrying will make no difference

Why bother doing anything if we're doomed already

Or is this a rarely captured photo of the elusive

but nearly extinct Phylum Meduxasi jelly fish

And should I focus all my attention

on the cruelties that befall these majestic creatures

Because we all know I can't do anything personally to save them 

but I can be angry and saddened and do it well

 (Is it just me or can you already feel your mood take a dip?)

Or is it a matter of perspective

at how I am looking at this picture

Being too close; too focused

acting like blinders that keep me from seeing more

  Before reacting perhaps I take a moment to look at things from another angle

step back, close one eye, stand on one foot, stand on my head...

whatever it takes 

What will I see?

Will I see a blessing in disguise

find beauty around the bend

Will I find that I am part of a large and diverse network

of a beautifully complex and ever-changing living organism 

Life

That my fate is not pre-determined

that my power to change is as strong as I choose to let it be

that I can help myself and others if I find the proper channels

Will I find that a slow death exists in living life with the blinders on

And that Life without them is truly amazingly breathtaking

That you need the good and the bad

The rough and the smooth

The shadows and the highlights

The highs and the lows 

(Is it just me or can you already feel your mood rise and want to dance?)

~ ~ ~

“Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. 
Never take yourself too seriously.”

~Og Mandino

~ ~ ~

By the way, there's no such thing as the 'elusive but nearly extinct Phylum Meduxasi jelly fish'.

~

This all came to mind when I see how my sick sister keeps focused on all the family genetic illnesses. When I hear of family giving in to illness and worry because 'it's just a matter of time'.
Or think that I might 'go to hell' because my way of thinking isn't like someone else.

And when my hubs played 'expressway pinball' on a patch of black ice
bounced off guardrail then spun into concrete median
then came to rest across both lanes of traffic in time to see truck swerve around him.
As he told my Mama and I this, she was horrified and said it was the bad luck of Friday the 13th and all I could see was the amazingly good luck that he walked away with a bruise.
Something I keep reminding him of when he remembers the condition of his truck.
I'm not being naive.
I can choose to wallow in the what ifs or celebrate and live.
Right?