the bigger picture

It's easy to be positive when things are good. It's easy to be negative when times are bad. Our outlook is often times tied to the experiences we go through, and though this is a very human thing to do, I sometimes feel we should strive to be above it.

Being human, our vision is limited. We rarely see the entire picture, but just bits and pieces of it, and we have to figure out how to fill in the rest of it. We're artists of our own lives and we paint the void according to our own liking, with colors that reflect our dreams and strokes that define our passion.

So when times are good, we use vibrant colors. Likewise, when times are bad, our strokes turn to paint over those vibrant colors with darker ones and destroy the beautiful painting in progress. Few times, however, will we step back to take a look at all the other pieces and make a reasonable guess to what the picture may look like.

I bet if we all just stepped back and took a look at the big picture, we could realize something significant in our lives. Too often we see what's in front of us, and we forget the goal we strive after. We look at the fact that there's a forest in front of us and forget that the map specifically pointed out that we'd have to walk through that forest to reach our destination.

While it's not good also to look at the goal and not what's in front of you, I think we should not forget to keep an open mind and see through the opportunities provided within hardships in life. Some of us we can simply avoid and ignore, while most others we will overcome, but ultimately, these are temporary moments, and they'll help you along the way.

Somehow, someway, the bigger picture had already taken it into account. It's no fun sometimes, but there's purpose and reason. And for that, all you can do is to smile and walk forward and be thankful the picture is slowly being completed as the masterpiece it should be.