If you haven't read the blog article "Life is a Picture, But You Live in a Pixel," you should. If you have read it, you should refresh your memory before I add my two cents. Go ahead. I'll wait...

La, la, la, hum, da, da, dee. Okay, that was fast. It is a short article that packs a wallop. Author Tim Urban does an extraordinary job using simple illustrations to bring a significant point home; Jack (and the rest of us) don't live in the picture of our lives; we live in a "single pixel of the image - a single Today." [1] Most of us can't even see the vision of our lives; as Tim points out, that view is reserved for outsiders looking at the whole picture, often from far enough away to see the corners and edges. However, we grind away daily too close to the mural and wonder why it feels like we aren't making progress.

I decided to conduct a little experiment using some of the pictures from past blogs. Although, of course, when I select a picture as the title illustration for my blog articles, I choose one that most speaks to the article's intent; you would likely choose a different picture. That is why I like this little experiment. Everyone looking at the picture of your life will genuinely see something different. For example, one person might see a dark and gloomy portrait, while another sees rainbows and unicorns.

Photo by me. copyright brickbarnblog2022

58 x 44 =2,552

I wanted to illustrate a picture of 365 (days) x 90 (years) = 32,850 grid squares. That would enable everyone to count the grids and figure out exactly (to the day) which pixel they occupy. However, size and space prevented me from representing it correctly. So, consider the above picture of 2,552 individual grid blocks: a grid of 52 (weeks) x 90 (years) = 4,680. So the above picture grid represents approximately two weeks of your life for every box.

The two-week span of my life today consists of box 1,664. So I can find the current two weeks by dividing 1,664 by 58 (the number of pixels in a row). That number is 28.67, by the way, and by counting down 29 rows and then moving horizontally, I can find the approximate pixel of my life (light blue dot).

68 x 38 = 2,584

No matter how beautiful the picture is, the pixels of our lives reveal patches of mundane, even dark periods punctuated with sunny stretches full of exciting colors.

63 x 42 = 2646

It doesn't matter how busy our lives have become; there are extended times when nothing much seems to happen. Interestingly enough, the more active we are, the greater our lives contrast; bright weeks followed by dark shadows. The colors change violently sometimes in the disparity of our lives (is that Spiderman in the lower right-hand corner?)

I hope you found the article by Tim as insightful and exciting as I did. When incorporating "scientifically proven" ideas into our lives, things like "spending time with people you like, sleeping well," exercising, or being kind, we would do well to remember these things we choose to do rather than have to do. [2] Nobody forces you to show gratitude or listen to music. Rarely does anyone force you to go fishing, read a book, or go to a party. Okay, maybe we've been forced to go to church at one time or another; however, in the choice, we paint the day, and while we might not see the impact of the colors we choose, those around us will marvel at the beautiful tapestry of our lives.

Written November 11, 2022

References:

[1] https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/life-is-picture-but-you-live-in-pixel.html

[2] Clements, J. (2008, April 2). The Sad Stats On Happiness. *Wall Street Journal*, p.D1.