When my niece was three years old, she and her family traveled to visit her grandparents. During this visit, her mother shared with her that she would get to visit Palo Duro Canyon. Curious, she asked her mother, “What is a canyon?” Her mother described this geographical phenomenon as “a big hole in the ground.”
The morning arrived for this excursion, and as we helped her get ready, we encouraged her with the anticipation of the adventure and some of what she might see. At the state park entrance, she squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.
However, as we drove down the steep and winding road into the canyon, she began asking, “where is the hole? I want to see the hole.” We each took a turn attempting to explain the expanse of the canyon, the differing landscape, and in the simplest of terms that she was actually, “in the hole.” The abstract concept of being in the canyon (hole) for this beautiful, bright three-year-old was more than she could process in the moment, and she began to sob, “I want to see the hole, Mommy!”
Much like my niece, we each process our surroundings and circumstances from within our own finite, internally shaped, and self-defined perspectives. The paradigm – or lens – from which we view our lives continually serves as the context from which we receive input, process information, and draw conclusions.
Our viewpoint – our perspective – is how we define reality. This processing may be on a scale as grand as the origin of the universe, as small as assuming the motive of the person in the car next to us, and on levels everywhere in between. Sometimes we are aware and intentional in our processing (thought life); I believe most times we are not fully cognizant of the sources of input, the lens we filter this input through, and the emotions / beliefs that influence the conclusions we draw. (More on this later.)
So let’s explore context:
Context is defined as:
- the parts of a sentence, paragraph, discourse, etc. immediately next to or surrounding a specified word or passage and determining its exact meaning
- the whole situation, background, or environment relevant to a particular event, personality, creation, etc.
(Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.)
And in turn, Out of context:
If a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, so that it seems to mean something different from the meaning that was intended.
(COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers)
I recognize definitions can be a bit dry…. That said, it is worth our time to create a landscape and establish the environment – or Context – for which this blog will exist. (see definition #2, above, for Context)
My name is Leslie. I am one life. One life that loves, lives, breathes, works, plays, feels, succeeds and fails, just like you. I am unique, in that there is only one of me, and will only ever be one of me in the history of time and space – and you are each equally unique. There also will be only one of each of you on this planet, ever.
This uniqueness is by design, and to be treasured.
Life’s journey is exactly that – a journey. One of experiences, responses, and growth. (It is not actually a destination.) This growth may be in a healthy or unhealthy trajectory, but life is not stationary. We are continually growing. I believe this growth to be organic, not linear. Meaning, we may have – simultaneously – areas in life that have healthy growth and other areas, not so healthy.
I wrote the book “One Life” to capture some of my own experiences, responses to these experiences, and growth in my life journey. Through these events, my life was forever changed. And I am so grateful it was! Many times I’ve been asked if I could change what happened, would I? My answer remains emphatically, “no.” As painful and life altering as it was, the treasures I received through the suffering redeemed it all. I would not be who I am today without those experiences. For that, I am eternally grateful.
The development of this website, and this blog, are an effort to continue to share elements of my journey with others, and to offer hope in walking through life’s adventures. This is a safe space – one intended to create opportunities for fresh context. This provides the potential to renew our minds by filtering our circumstances, thought life, emotions, and beliefs through a different lens.
The primary context for this effort is one of understanding. This is not to be mistaken for agreement. These two, many times, are not the same thing. I heard someone once say that healthy relationships are not founded upon agreement, they are established and grown in understanding one another.
So, I begin this blog adventure (never done this before) by establishing its context. I will offer my understanding – the renewing of my mind – without expectation. Life lessons have taught me that I am incapable of convincing anyone of anything. This revelation actually frees me from false responsibility. (Another painful lesson, but worth the treasure / freedom I gleaned through the process.)
What am I saying? You are free to disagree with me. I encourage you, if you’ve read this far and chose to read future blogs, to ponder what you read – sit with it, process it, be willing to consider if you find anything of value in it. Be honest with yourself. If you find nothing of value, then lay it down and walk on by.
I hope you choose to take this journey with me. Next time we will explore the sources of input in our thought life.
Sincerely,
Leslie
