Zoom in progress

Please, please - don’t X out of this after reading the title, I swear this has absolutely nothing to do with Covid, lockdowns and all those other sweat-inducing trigger words. But the hack I want to speak to today is a really valuable one I’ve been practicing in the last few months, and it involves liberal use of the word ‘zoom’, so consider yourselves warned. Don’t worry - there isn’t a quiz at the end.


Tapestries are huge works of art that stretch across walls, and when you put all the pieces together, they tell a story. An overall narrative. Consider the tapestry as a metaphor for life. Oftentimes we are so guilty of fixating on one tiny chunk of that tapestry, like maybe a 10x10 inch piece out of the top corner, and magnifying it and wrapping ourselves up in it so much until it’s all we can see. Nothing else has come before this vignette and nothing else shall come after. This A3-sized nugget IS my whole life.


This cognitive glitch is what I have begun to refer to as zooming in. By obsessing over that part of the picture - be it work stress, disputes in my relationships, other insecurities that exacerbate my peace - I forget that there is a bigger picture to appreciate. Yes, this particular issue is causing me pain in the moment, and it is dogging my thoughts every waking hour, but my life is made up of so much more than this tiny section of tapestry. By zooming out, I can better see that I have other things in my life which bring me joy, which nourish my soul. This is not to say that you should dismiss the hurt or anxiety felt by the situation at hand. To do so is to be unaware, and dishonest. Accept that it has happened and has made you feel a way, but consider that you have a whole photo album of memories captured in your life thus far - why the need to stare forlornly and exclusively at this particular snapshot? Especially when it is dimming your light.


To the reader who is deeply struggling with obsessive negative thoughts, the zoom-in-vs-zoom- out method might sound overly simplistic, so here is my advice for making it 3D. In my own practice, I try to label zooming in when I see myself doing it. I even say aloud - “I’m zooming into one part of my tapestry right now, I need to zoom out”, or “bigger-picture thinking, Aoife”, and sometimes, pairing this with a physical step backwards can feel extremely effective. If your movement is restricted, then instead take a deep breath and sigh it out.


Team labeling with gratitude practice. When you are in the daily habit of listing what you are grateful for, zooming out in times of crisis isn’t so much of a reach because you often acknowledge what makes your life rich and wonderful anyway. Maintaining a wide support network is equally beneficial in ensuring you don’t zoom into the conflicts in one particular group or relationship so much that you forget you have other social connections dotted around your wider tapestry that make you feel fulfilled.


I love a Wayne Dyer quote, so let me end here by leaving you with the following:
Location: Dubai - United Arab Emirates

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