Election time is reflection time. Time to reflect on satisfaction with our state of being. Time to reflect on how our world looks now and to imagine what we would like it to look like in the future. Time to reflect on where we think answers might be found to address problems that we see around us. Perhaps, there is no time like election time when there is more truth to Stephen Covey’s quote: We see the world, not as it is, but as we are—or, as we are conditioned to see it.

If we see our world through a wide-angle lens as one planet connected across counties and countries and cultures and ecological systems, our reflection has a broader scope with a longer view and a more global orientation. On the other hand, if we use a close-up lens and focus on what we need or want for ourselves and our local circumstances in the near term, our reflection of the world has a narrower scope with a shorter view and more local orientation.

No matter which lens we use for our “dominant eye” through which we see the world, our voting preferences surely come into focus through that perspective.

Reflections in Nature have symmetry and offer us equal opportunities for macro or micro views. There is a balance of perspectives offering us the chance to “zoom out” or “zoom in.” What if we took a lesson from reflections in Nature and applied a balance of both macro and micro views when we voted? Perhaps many of us already do?