Coping and Our Well Being
It’s wise to consider the short and the long view.
American author and storyteller Michael Meade tells a teaching story that goes like this:
A puzzle is set before lead officials and counselors of a royal court in ancient India. The ruler decides to test the wisdom of the advisors and his men. He draws a line on the floor and instructs, make this line shorter without touching it. In other words, how do you shorten the line without touching it?
The officials, counselors and advisors argue about solutions and ways to solve the puzzle. After much discussion and disagreement, a young advisor steps to the front and draws another line on the floor that is much longer than the original line. As the elders looked on, they could only conclude that the original line was indeed shorter, and it hadn’t been touched.
As I listened to this story, it made me think of the concept of time and perspective, especially as we head into the colder months in our northern hemisphere of the world. For many of us, Covid and the impending winter add to our collective anxiety of how to cope in this environment. We may dread being indoors, further isolated from each other. The short winter days may feel even more foreboding.
To me, the lines on the floor in Meade’s puzzle represent our time horizon. Focusing on the long term in the current situation may be too overwhelming. We need only focus on our well-being for the near term, or the short line. Soon enough, the days will lengthen, and daylight will reemerge.
In dealing with any puzzle, it’s wise to consider the short and the long lines. Each line serves a purpose if we’re willing to shift how we view the situation.
