This morning, I was out running around 5:30 a.m.—it’s dark in the country. I wear a headlamp as the days are shorter and I need the light on the road to guide me.
Broaden Your Beam of Light
I don’t wear headphones so as to not dampen my senses at this wee hour. As you can imagine, with nothing to distract my mind, I quickly began envisioning been attacked by a pack of coyotes or being trampled by deer or sprayed by an unsuspecting and grouchy skunk. My imagination ran wild until I was at the point of no return—that distance where turning back doesn’t make sense anymore and you just have to keep going.
I finally settled in and it was just the crunch of the rock beneath my feet and the bounce of my beam of light. I starting thinking about how narrow the view is when only seeing the world that is revealed by the beam. Then I started thinking about bias and how our bias is like this beam providing us only a narrow view of the world, and our own lives. Each of us is at risk of only seeing what is visible in the beam immediately ahead of us. In order to have a fuller and richer perspective, we need to challenge our bias, look around, and broaden our exposure.
It’s important we honestly look at ourselves and our views. We should question ourselves. What narrow views are we holding that do not serve us? What can we do to broaden our beam of light? Challenge yourself this week to see the big picture and embrace the light from all directions.
