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A Different View | 20"x20" | Oil on Canvas

A Different View View-Master

It’s funny how 2 people can be looking at the same image and see it in a very different way. There have been so many studies on the human brain and how our minds can play tricks on us. A lot of our perspective depends on what we’ve experienced and what our minds have been trained to see.

The first View-Master “reel” was introduced in the 1930’s using a stereoscope, which created an illusion of 3-D using two side-by-side photographs. It’s amazing how by simply combining two one-dimensional images they can create a 3-D image! Now, this technology has been advanced far beyond combining photographs! The toy I grew up with probably seems unimpressive to the kids today!

I remember how excited I was when I would get a new movie reel for my View-Master! Sometimes in my excitement, I would rush to put the reel in, and I would put it in backward. The first image I saw would be a bit confusing until I realized what I had done!  Then there were the times it would get stuck on one slide and I would have to take out it out and start over.

There are times that I feel like I’m looking at my life through a View-Master and it feels like the reel is backward, only I’m not exactly sure how to fix it! As I get older and hopefully wiser, I realize that some of my dissatisfaction in life is because of my perspective! I am learning how to be grateful in my circumstances and not dwell on the negative! I think another issue I struggle with is when I get stuck on one incident in my life! It’s like me getting stuck on one slide and all I need to do is reset and advance to the next slide!

My life story isn’t finished and I still have a lot of slides to create! I think of each day as a new opportunity to make an awesome new slide for my life. I once read that you should write out how you want to be remembered. I’m more of a visual person, so in my mind, I picture a slide show, and I want to pick out the best moments in my life to be featured in my life reel. What are some of your favorite memories that you would want to be on your reel of life?