The Wynwood Walls, in Miami’s iconic street art district, never fail to move me. I love the feeling of being dwarfed by these monumental murals, overwhelmed by their power and scale. During my latest visit, a simple question surfaced and stayed with me: Am I seeing the big picture of my life—or only fragments of it?

The big picture of your world is what you call reality. You have been taught that what you see, touch, and feel at any given moment is reality. From there, the idea that the person sitting next to you on a bus or standing beside you at a concert experiences something entirely different can feel almost unsettling. Aren’t you seeing the same buildings, feeling the same bumps in the road, hearing the same music?

And yet, your neighbor’s experience is profoundly different from yours. Their values, culture, past, and present circumstances tell a different story using the very same material. Even your own perception is not fixed. Think back to the building next to your childhood home—how enormous it felt back then, and how ordinary it looks today. Like the child you once were, your world evolves as you do.

This is why your big picture needs updating. It asks to be embraced as it is now. Be mindful of old beliefs and outdated perceptions that quietly pull you backward. Your present life—and even more so your future—requires that you release what no longer nourishes you and move forward with curiosity about what could be.

The big picture of your achievements is far greater than what fits on a CV. Pause for a moment and imagine this: if someone were introducing you at a conference and listing all your achievements—every single one—what would they say? They might mention your marathon running, your devoted parenting, the sales targets you surpassed, your presence for ageing parents, your ability to thrive in a new job, a new country, or an entirely new industry. They might speak of your capacity to learn new skills, your talent for creating a welcoming home, your resilience in the face of illness, your courage, your loyalty as a friend.

You bring far more value to the world than you realize. This is not an invitation to self-satisfaction—far from it. It is an invitation to occasionally acknowledge your unique contribution to your family, your friends, your colleagues, and beyond. Research shows that we celebrate our successes for minutes and dwell on our failures for years. Does that sound familiar?

The big picture of your dreams is closely tied to this. When your mental space is crowded with what you didn’t do, did wrong, or wish you had done differently, there is little room left for dreams to expand. Big dreams need big walls on which to be drawn. They require space, focus, and the freedom to explore, get inspired, feel excited—and eventually, move into action.

Yet even in action, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. One of my clients felt strangely out of sync just as she had reached a major milestone in an ambitious project. Something was draining her energy right before the finish line. As we explored this together, we realized she had lost sight of the broader vision beyond the immediate goals. By stepping back and reconnecting with her deeper “why,” by visualizing her larger agenda as if she were already living it, her momentum returned.

So I’ll leave you with this question:
What does your big picture tell you today?