Christmas Day Broadcast

 

The Overview Effect

Leigh says:

When astronauts orbiting the heavens look out the shuttle window and see planet earth for the first time, floating in a sea of black, they are awe struck.

Planet earth, a pale blue orb, floating in a sea of darkness, with even the sun looking like a star, is undeniably beautiful.

Astronauts report being deeply moved by what they see.

” Something happens to you out there. Seeing your home, planet earth, from that perspective has changed me in a profound way. It’s more that coincidence, all of this, is so much more powerful and purposeful. It filled me with awe and that has changed my life”

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell

In 1987 writer Frank White interviewed 29 astronauts and came up with something he called “The Overview Theory”, arguing the sight of the earth from space transforms astronauts perspective on themselves and the world.

Part of the awe, he determined, is due to their new perspective high above the world. Massive rivers like the Nile shrunk to carpets in hues of blue woven along bands of desert brown sand and Neon lime green light from the Aurora borealis dancing like fireflies. Even lightening storms seen from the astronaut’s perspective, look spectacular like God is flicking a lighter, on and off, on and off, on and off.

Astronauts become so raptured watching their blue planet, they “earth gazing” in their spare time, just watching their home, from such a foreign perspective. Besides the wonder, they also report a sense of connectedness to this planet that from their shuttle window, they alone can see. Planet earth, siting alone in the black Galaxy, is so fragile looking with only a thin wisp of protection that runs along our atmosphere, like a frail ribbon of lace, protecting us from the ravages of space.

I would love to do an orbit around planet earth to witness this awe inspiring sight and maybe one day I will sell the house, and hurl into the heavens.

But until then, the Overview theory has caught my imagination.

Can we feel awe, in our life by altering our perspective? Can we take our deepest-rooted cynical mundane lives and turn it on its head by simply changing our perspective?

What a remarkable Midlife tool, for us to explore.
Like the astronauts, seeing our world from a different perspective could shift

something deep within us. Would this shift allow us to let awe in? I believe awe can be found in the simplest of things to those who look from a new perspective.

When I fly, I enjoy looking out the window excited by my altered perspective from the air.

I especially love when we break above the clouds and the sun shines on what looks like an endless bowl of whipped potatoes or soft cotton hills. It looks a lot different when I’m on the ground, but from my window seat, it’s an endless trampoline of extra firm pillows, inviting me to play.

That’s how it makes me feel, like I could bounce effortlessly from cloud to cloud. My perspective makes me smile. Our perspective can also elicit awe.

The first time I closed one eye and saw the moon through a telescope I was mesmerized by the deep caverns that mark its face, the craters and valleys unseen by my naked eye.

Until then, I had only seen a friendly shining face on Mr. Moon, not the craggy landscape that the telescope showed. I was in awe of the moonscape on my amazing night friend now seen from a new perspective.

Perspectives are like that. They can change things subtly or spectacularly.

Just look at us on the book jacket. Who else has this Midlife perspective- upside down, laughing, enjoying Midlife like a meal, in awe of what comes next? This is our Midlife perspective, and it’s changed how we think, how we feel, and radically increased the awe to flow in.

JPP has chapter by chapter, led you as well, to this new vantage point, we call the ridge.

With the last of our nine pillars now complete, we are standing on a higher mound, than when we started this book.

Some of us have been so busy playing, we don’t know how far we have come. We haven’t looked up, or stopped enjoying the exercises to catch our breath and see the vantage of our new ridge. Take a moment to stretch your legs and take in the views.

From this perspective, our Midlife has an undeniable awe factor. Can you feel it? See the transformation your life have taken since you started the first pillar of pause, and the new excitement of now being creatively alive and awake to your life’s possibilities.

Now on the ridge of Midlife, we are learning to Just Push Play as often as we can. Look at the view! Look at the perspective we have created!

We can see from the ridge, a map to our Midlife filled with passion to alchemize into powerful change, in ways small and large as unexpected opportunities happen.

This new perspective lets us play out our Midlife as authentically as we can for us and for our planet. In that magic combination, is awe. Feel the awe of this opportunity. It’s like that inversion fog that settled somewhere through our 30’s and 40’s suddenly clears revealing a new route for Midlife. Our completed nine pillars allow us to see with new eyes, the treasure map trail leading to deep, heart-filling contentment.

This is your time of pleasure, freedom and ripeness, unlike any other stage of your life. Drink it up, swim in it, let the lucky ladybugs land on you and laugh like you are nine again.

You have arrived on the ridge.
Count me in. I want to wring every last giggle, lingering kiss, breathtaking view

I promise to never squander a single day. I will bravely follow my heart, and traverse this ridge forever, the perspective filling my days with awe. I hope you are right beside me.