Zoom-Out on Events

Why does the same event land so differently on different people? A short video on how an event becomes meaning, and why our perspective matters so much.

Events feel like they happen to us

Our lives can be broken down into a series of events, and they often feel as though they are happening to us, with little or no control on our part, including over the influence they will have on our lives.

But consider one event experienced by many people. Do they all experience the same thing? Of course not. It sounds blindingly obvious, yet in everyday life, and when we think about our own viewpoints, this is easily overlooked. Something else is going on: our perspective on the event, which determines to a large degree the impact it has on us.

What is really happening

The video uses an early Zoom-Out Diagram to show how we perceive and process reality. The simple version, in which an event directly triggers a response, is misleading and unhelpful. At a fundamental level:

1. The event gives out data: light waves, sound waves, heat, physical contact and pressure.
2. Some of that data reaches our senses. It is partial, shown on the diagram as a dotted line.
3. Our brains construct a mental model of the event.
4. Based on our perspective on that model, we arrive at an interpretation.
5. The interpretation leads to meaning: what does this event mean to us?
6. That meaning determines our psychological and emotional response.

Seeing the steps in between is what gives us room to zoom-out. For a fuller walk-through of the same idea, see Zoom-Out Diagrams.