A Zoom-Out Christmas Carol

Christmas is a natural time of year to Zoom-Out, to step back and take a broader perspective on your life and the people in it. This is precisely what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge in the classic Christmas story by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol: he essentially undergoes a series of Zoom-Outs facilitated by three ghosts.

Please share with family and friends. In fact, you can do these exercises with other people if you have a shared history, shared social circle, and shared future.

• ✓ 5 parts ("Staves"), each with a short video (~3 mins) and an accompanying exercise (~10 mins).
• ✓ Do one part per day, or all of them together in under an hour.
• ✓ Stave 5 concludes the story with a final point of reflection.

The Spirit of Zoom-Out

In this first episode, it's Christmas eve and you are visited by the "Spirit of Zoom-Out" who has come to give you some Zoom-Out coaching.

Synopsis: At times we can become Zoomed-In on something unhelpful. That is, we can hold a narrow view about something, someone, or ourselves in a way that is detrimental to ourselves and those around us. In Ebenezer Scrooge's case, he had become Zoomed-In on money at the expense of many other aspects of his life.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

In this second episode, after your encounter with The Spirit of Zoom-Out, you are visited by The Ghost of Christmas Past who takes you on a Time Dimension Zoom-Out, to reflect on your highlights of the year since last Christmas.

Synopsis: Evolution has built into us a negativity bias which has maximised our chances of survival and passing on our genes, but at the expense of our happiness and effectiveness in other aspects of our lives. As a result, we tend to focus on and remember the failures and "negative" events. This exercise aims to boost our self-esteem and sense of gratitude for our own achievements and the "positive" events and people in our lives.

The Ghost of Christmas Present

In this third episode, you are visited by The Ghost of Christmas Present who takes you on a Social Dimension Zoom-Out, to reflect on and re-evaluate all of the key people in your life, and that should be in your life.

Synopsis: Christmas is a natural time of year to Zoom-Out on the people in and around us, to connect or reconnect. However, we need to put time and attention into doing this, and watching this video and doing the exercise is a great way of doing this.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

In this fourth episode, you meet The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who takes you on a Time & Social Dimension Zoom-Out into the future, to consider what you would like your legacy to be one year from now.

Synopsis: Do you have goals for next year? How will you get the most out of your time next year? Reflecting on these in terms of your legacy (your impact on your world and the people you love and value) is a powerful way of zooming-out on your goals. Stepping out of ourselves to view our legacy from the point of view of other people, rather than the narrow confines of ourselves, adds additional power to this Zoom-Out exercise.

Christmas Morning: A New Dawn

Stave 5 concludes the story with a final point of reflection.

Narration by Rob Aston
Voices of the ghosts by Kev Tsai
Theme music by Rob Aston & Ilana Jacobs
Conceived and created by Rob Aston
Inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Thank you to all of the people who have co-facilitated, dressed up, and acted in the face-to-face workshop in previous years, and to everyone who has taken part.