Here’s the thing about blind spots. We don’t know we have them. We think we’re perpetually broke because because we have bad luck, or that we can’t find love because there are no good men, when the truth is we need an actual plan — preferably a flexible one with built in room to maneuver and respond to the unexpected opportunities and curve balls that life throws our way — or simply a new point of view. Our biggest blind spot of all may be that we’re looking at our life through the wrong lens. We mistake an essential part of our narrative for a colossal mistake that will forever up-end our life. We forget that bumps in the road are part of any good journey, and that knowing how to navigate a bumpy road is the only skill you really need to lead a juicy life. We think that the big mistakes ruin us and the little mistakes don’t matter, when really the reverse is true. The big mistakes build character — and, if we are willing to be an active protagonist in the story of our own life, they build the narrative of a really good life. Check out any great movie and you’ll see what I mean. In The King’s Speech, Bertie finds his voice because of not in spite of his adversities. He fights his way through his stutter, kicking and screaming as often as not, to the life of import that awaited him on the other side. Creasy in Man On Fire finds something worth living for before he dies because he takes the job he can do in his broken down, heavy drinking state and gives himself over, kicking and screaming, to the persistent love of a child. In each instance, the big flaw or the big mistake ends up being the gateway to the transcendent possibility that’s hidden inside of every life — and the devil at the crossroads ends up being the small peccadilloes of mind that keep us from seeing what a thing is really for.
Tags: Blind Spots, Film Narrative, HuffPost, HuffPost Live, Princess Pan, The Story Of Your Life, Tracy McMillan, Why You're Not Married