Looking at things from a different angle

On a visit to  the birthplace  of John Muir ( conservationist and founder of National Parks in the US) in Dunbar in beautiful East Lothian, Scotland I came across this window etched with a quote from the great man and I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss so I took a photo. On reviewing it I realised that it was hard -  if not impossible – to read.

What a disappointment.

Then I tried taking the photo from a different angle and this is the result

By moving slightly to the side a lot more of the words became clear.

The full quote is

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in”

In context of his love, understanding and passion for the world around him I think this is a wonderful and inspiring quote.

And it also inspired me to think about this experience in a wider context. How often is something we are working towards to understand just that bit tricky to “see”? Sometimes it is because we are standing in the wrong place and a small shift will make it much clearer.

For some people clarity is really important – others are happy to wait for things to evolve and become clear. Neither is right or wrong.  As if so often the case taking time to standing somewhere else and maybe even in someone else’s shoes can teach us so much.