Mentoring Questions > > Keeping Life in Perspective
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Keeping Life in Perspective
So many people live their emotional life like a yo-yo, going from high to low and back again. A Roman emperor asked his wise men to devise a philosophy of life that he could wear on a ring. They brought him back these words - "This, too, shall pass." I was once reminded that scripture reinforces this because it is repeated over and over, “and it came to pass.” We need to realize that this motto applies to all of us, as well. As we mature we learn to lengthen our emotional wheelbase. We take the bumps with less jolting. This realization brings equilibrium to our life. I find pessimists extrapolating the bad too far into life and the optimists extrapolating good too far. We should be more objective, realizing that time and opportunity change conditions. Or, according to Smith’s maxim: "extrapolate objectively."
Sometimes our life is like a sailor on a tossing ship and we have to accept the waves and feel the security of the ship like a sailor does. Other times our life is like a soldier on terra firma, and realize that we are no safer as a soldier than as a sailor but there are no waves. Whatever our condition we need to keep in focus what we are trying to accomplish here. An aim without a target is worthless. And as we find our footing and gain our sea legs most of us need to practice shooting with a rifle and not a shotgun.
Part of keeping focus is to keep the machinery oiled, which to me is a sense of humor. I see some people running with excessive heat who are doing damage to the machine simply because they don't have that little shot of oil to lubricate and dissipate the heat. There is no better oil than humor. Keep life in focus.
