The view of a city from the top of a building, looking out from the window of an aeroplane, or the view of the landscape from the top of a mountain is often breathtaking. The elevation allows us to see things in a sweeping sight and gives us a different, and often beautiful perspective. It is the same with our vision and experience of life. Our worldview changes as we raise our vision and understanding. But to do that, we need to rise above from where we are today.

We need to rise above our own sense of limitation and remind ourselves that we are capable of almost anything if we put our mind to it and stay committed to our endeavour.

We need to rise above our pettiness and take a larger view of life, rather than getting stuck on small things people may have said or done which keep bothering us.

We need to rise above our ego and realise that when we feed it, we are fattening the very chain that we will struggle to break free from one day.

We need to rise above our inertia and laziness and propel ourselves into dynamic action using every precious moment to give ourselves a better experience of life.

We need to rise above temptations and distractions, reminding ourselves that if we get stuck in the lower, we are compromising ourselves from moving to the higher.

We need to rise above our tensions and worries, not by becoming uncaring and fatalistic, but by tapping into our understanding of life and developing the faith that as a challenge grows, we carry the capacity to grow bigger.

We need to rise above our hatred and prejudices, learning how to differ without despising.

We need to rise above the moods of the mind, watching them but not allowing them to define us. When we remind ourselves that the darkest cloud may hide the sun for a while but the sun doesn’t change its true nature, we too start finding the unchangeable within which becomes our anchor through the vagaries of the mind.

We need to rise above our hurts and hesitation and learn to love, sometimes not because of, but in spite of.

A rocket needs the maximum fuel during take-off. Change is difficult at first, but once we break free from what is holding us back and experience life in a new dimension, we will laugh at ourselves and wonder what took us so long to rise above.