This striking satellite image captures Cyclone Yasi just hours before it made landfall on the coast of North Queensland. From this vantage point, it appears calm and awe-inspiring. That’s the nature of viewing something from a wide perspective — and few views are broader than that from space.
However, the reality on the ground tells a very different story. News reports show people gathered in evacuation centers, overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty. The winds are intensifying, and the situation grows increasingly frightening. This storm is massive — not only a Category 5, the most severe level, but also spanning roughly 500 kilometers in width.
When you zoom into the ground-level details, chaos and distress take over. This mirrors how we experience difficult moments in life. During challenging times, we often become consumed by every painful detail and the unfolding crisis.
Afterwards, some individuals remain trapped in those fragmented memories, reliving the distress repeatedly. In NLP terms, this is called being “associated” with the event — fully re-experiencing it. The emotional intensity is often linked to how narrowly focused we are on these small parts rather than stepping back to see the whole.
Others manage to process trauma more effectively by perceiving the entire event as a single, unified experience — taking it in as a larger “chunk” rather than fragmented moments.
Usually, this broader perspective develops with time. But some people struggle to gain distance or resolution. If we can learn to step back and view the experience more like a satellite image — from a higher, more detached vantage point — we place it in the broader context of our lives.
This shift doesn’t erase what happened, but it can change how we respond. Taking a step back helps us cope better, building resilience — the capacity to recover and move forward.