Proper perspective is critical to our emotional health.

From an American political viewpoint, if you have caught yourself saying or thinking, “this is the worst it’s ever been” or “we’ve never been this divided”, you need perspective. I would mandate a reading of any well-written biography of past Presidents.

A great place to start is Being Nixon – A Man Divided by Evan Thomas.

Stolen elections, conspiracy theories, paranoia, wars and rumors of wars, civil strife, blatant racism, men assuming the law doesn’t apply to them, and a general lack of honor. Sound familiar? This is not an America to go back to. It is an America to learn from and move forward.

And that book only describes one point in time. Any studied look at history informs you that there is nothing new under the sun. Let’s learn, long for a better future, build on improvements already made, and endeavor not to repeat past mistakes.

Because the truth is, despite what we see going on around us, there are areas where, as a society, we have made strides forward. That’s a healthy perspective.