I find visual imagery very helpful for understanding intellectual concepts and for putting them into everyday practice. Having a visual in mind can help you both feel what a concept really means as well as remember to utilize it in real-world situations. You can easily recall an imagery-based metaphor in its entirety and then fill in the details of how it applies to the current situation at hand, rather than having to remember something more intellectual or verbal.

So, here’s a visual I find useful for slowing down, zooming out, and gaining a broader perspective in any moment:

You can imagine that, in life, you are playing a video game. Life is playing out on the screen in front of our visual field and we’re constantly engaged in a game that has its rules, its currencies, its objectives, its levels, its bosses (which could be people but also could be broader issues), its friends, its enemies. It has all this stuff, a whole world of stuff, and we’re the main character of our game.

We can get so caught up in playing the game, fulfilling our roles and the tasks associated with our roles, that we may feel we need to move increasingly faster in order to maintain the game. Maybe if we slowed down we’d lose in some way, or the game would fall apart, or we’d be revealed as having some hidden weakness. I’m reminded of another visual of a person who has been running all their life, leaned forward at a steep angle, and the only way they can keep from falling over is to run faster.

With all of this speed and momentum of the video game, we might forget that we’re both in the game and we’re the player of the game with the controller in our hands. To remember this second part enables the possibility of pressing pause on the controller, which stops the game momentarily, zooms out into a new screen, and displays all of our current options. The pause button also allows us to remember that we’re playing a game, which may provide a whole new perspective that would be unavailable if not for pausing and zooming out.

Then, from that space of pausing, we can re-engage in the game in the most skillful, authentic, clear, and centered way possible. The pause button might be one deep breath, taking in the newness of your environment, feeling into your hands or your feet, or anything that allows you to zoom out of the habitual momentum of the current mini-game you’re engaged in, notice all of the factors at play, remember that you’re playing a larger Game and that your life is only happening right now, and then re-engage in a way you will not regret.

So that’s all I wanted to share, just a quick visual that can be used in any situation, from the most intense conflict to eating a snack on your couch. Anything can be paused on, and you can personally fill in the rest of what that means to you.

What is it

that you drop into

when you zoom out

from the game?


Who is the you

who is holding

the controller?

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