The Bigger Picture, oh how you have impacted me for so many years. “When I see the distant lights illuminate the night then I will know I am home.” So amazing.
If you’ve never been here, or it’s been a while, I am a huge Dream Theater fan. Shocking, I know.
Their self-titled Dream Theater DT12 album had some amazing work on it, a huge gem in Illumination Theory.
When I think of The Bigger Picture, I don’t just think about this song but about my life. In some regards, I have to ensure that I have faith in the way things I can not control turn out.
And that in itself is a skill that some of us have never had, some who have, and then those who are the puppet masters (for a lack of a better term). Forrest for the trees type shit.
Recently I’ve had a chance to explore some of my thoughts on leadership and being able to look at the bigger picture. As a leader of sorts, it piques my interest to understand my part in a larger sum.
What I’ve realized that the number of years of participating in team sports, and the number of years of working in leadership roles, has made me a bit more aware of the actuality of said topic.
That experience has allowed me to develop the skills necessary to actually be a leader. Someone who exudes some of these skills is often a leader or captain. You know these people right away, they’ve got “it“.
But even with having “it“, how do you put it together? The answer is time and experience. Those rates are not defined, they happen and exist like natural law. We have these things because we are.
Now, there is this thing about how much of The Bigger Picture that you can perceive and/or view. You may know that it exists, but can not truly visualize it.
I have been trying to deal with this concept in my personal life much more over the past year than in the last 10. There are many examples of this that I’ve written about, yet more that I have not.
Not reacting to things is equal to reacting to them, you just have to know which to use and at what time.
The reaction needs to be proportional, not disproportional, to the stimulus. If you overreact, you lose the advantage. If you underreact, you also lose the advantage. You need a fine touch.
There is intent to these statements, to be read and thought about. Perhaps even actualized into one’s mind and given serious consideration that implementing balance into one’s life can be very beneficial.
When you can see the bigger picture, you can act upon it with the measured response that is proportional to the situation, and not allow one’s inner reactivity to overreact to it.
The The Bigger Picture is all of these things. Stop. Think. Think some more. React appropriately. Is that so hard?
And always remember this one little thing… When I see the distant lights illuminate the night, then I will know I am home.
Check out the Youtube video for Dream Theater – The Bigger Picture.
Long before the colors start to bleed
I can see the painting come alive
Clever like an angel in disguise
Moving in and out of reachIf the candle lights this crooked path
Like a lighthouse peering through the haze
I will find the river through the rain
And I’ll reach the water’s edgeShed your light on me
Be my eyes when I can’t see
Shed your light on me
Be my guide so I can see
The bigger pictureLike a moth burned by the fire
and driven to the flame
(Prophecies’ a blessing and a curse)
I must bare this cross alone
There’s no one else to blameWith each treasure found
Another shipwreck’s washed ashore
I am carried by the current
On a slow and steady courseShed your light on me
Be my eyes when I can’t see
Shed your light on me
Be my guide so I can see
The bigger pictureWhat if caught in a moment
I get lost and can’t find my way
What if all along i was wrong
In every turn, in every wayWould you talk me off the ledge
Or let me take the fall
Better to try and fail
then to never try at allYou look but cannot see
Talk but never speak
You live but cannot breathe
See but don’t believeWounds that never heal
A heart that cannot feel
A dream that’s all too real
A stare as cold as steelI’ve listened to the stories of resentment and disdain
I’ve looked into the empty eyes of anger, fear, and shame
I’ve taken blood from every stone
And traveled every roadWhen I see the distant lights illuminate the night
Then I will know I am home
