Here is my incomplete, imperfect response….
It’s all about ZOOM……..
Do you, and are you able to, zoom in and zoom out?
If you are able to zoom out – see the larger and objective picture of what it means to be you – and zoom in – to take care of immediate day-to-day matters – you’re probably doing rather well.
Do you, and are you able to zoom back and zoom ahead?
If you are able to zoom back and consider how your past has shaped you and zoom ahead and enjoy your hopes and dreams for your future – you are surely doing well.
It’s becoming stuck in one or the other – usually the past, or the future – and making the present unmanageable things can become problematic. Appreciating how the past and a vision for the future simultaneously significantly give shape to the immediate suggests wholeness and wellness.
Do you, are you able to zoom deeply within?
If you are able to search your inner-core – head, heart, soul, motivations – and then with humility and thanks, encounter and acknowledge your beauty, you are doing well. If you are able to embrace your inner-person despite your flaws and failures, and allow yourself to encourage others even when you yourself are under trying circumstances – I’d suggest you are of sound mind.
Do you, and are you able to zoom in on others?
If you are able to focus on the people with whom you share life – day-to-day platonic kindnesses – and the people whom you deeply love, and really listen to them – and you are able to appreciate their uniqueness, their beauty, and permit everything about them – both groups – to teach you what you don’t know about love and self-awareness – you are in tip-top mental health.
I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.
—- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
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