I flew into Amsterdam yesterday, catching sight of the tulip fields from above as we approached for landing. It’s one of the joys of the Netherlands: the sight of fields of tulips, sometimes one swathe of colour, but often a rainbow with each row planted in a different hue. From the air is a great place to view it!
Taking of from London is a different experience: first you see the city, with familiar landmarks, which then dissolves into a broad view of the patchwork landscape. I’m always struck by how random the field shapes are. If you ask a child to draw a field they will probably draw a rectangle - many adults too i expect - but almost no fields are like this. Instead they are a patchwork of odd shapes that reflect not only the irregularities of the landscape, but also the patterns of land ownership and farming over two millennia.
Use your sixty seconds today to think about perspective: most days we are stuck in the landscape, but do you ever manage to rise above it? And if so, how?
Often after a short holiday or break we say we have regained a perspective, but what is it, and how did we find it?