During my growing up years in Beaverton, Oregon, my father taught my brother and me at a young age how to change the oil in his car. My favorite part was putting the new oil in and watching it drain into the engine through this big red funnel. I’m sure you have seen these large plastic funnels before. They have a wide opening that decreases to a very small one, which fits perfectly into the engine.
I also remember looking through both ends of the funnel before it was time to add the oil. When I looked through the big end, my vision was very limited and I could only see a few things because the small end reduced my perspective drastically. However, when I looked through the small end I could see so much more because my vision wasn’t limited.
I think there is a lot to learn about how we view life from the “funnel”. When we laser in on little things that cause us to be discouraged, frustrated or angry we forget about our life as a whole. This is like looking through the big end of the funnel and only being able to see through the small hole. When we do this our perspective of our entire life gets thrown off. However, I have learned that we all have the ability to “flip the funnel” mentally and view any situation from a much broader perspective. Like looking through the small hole of a funnel and seeing a much wider picture.
I was faced with “flipping the funnel” just yesterday. We have a big golf tournament coming up and at this point sales aren’t as high as I would like. So I found myself having a little “pity party” and wondering why people didn’t want to support us. All I was doing was focusing in on one fact…. “slower sales”. So I decided to “flip the funnel” and realize people have a lot going on as they get ready to end summer and start fall. I also choose to be super thankful on the people that had signed up compared that those that didn’t. Lastly, I knew we still have four weeks and all I could do is keep sharing the opportunity with others.
I guess you could say that “flipping the funnel” is a way to see the glass have full instead of half empty. My challenge to you is the next time you find yourself mentally frustrated by little things, “flip the funnel” and give your self a chance to really see that small set-backs to mean the “sky is falling”.
I hope you have a great rest of your day and find JOY in your life as you “flip the funnel”.
NEGU,
