When you take pictures, where you are standing can make all the difference when it comes to the perfect shot. Whether you are facing west or east, or crouching or standing on something high, it all comes down to PERSPECTIVE. Just like with photos, perspective or how you view things, can change the outcome of the perfect picture or even how you view life. It’s kind of cliché to use the analogy of “the glass is half full,” but the why of how much people use that saying can be interpreted in many different ways.
When we have setbacks or major life changes, we sometimes have the ” woe is me” perspective. The why and the thought of how bad the current situation is sometimes is an overwhelming experience. Now, the “mind over matter” perspective occurs to other people. There are many who come to look at their situation as from the perspective of “what’s next? Life goes on but how can you move forward with life and what comes next? Intellectuals call it a paradigm shift, but simply put it’s a change of mental perspective.
The mind is so powerful. Just change how you perceive the world around you and your place in it, and everything can be so much better or so much worse. Humor is even a perspective if you give it some thought. Allowing yourself to maintain positive outlooks or irony despite negativity. That’s a powerful tool if used in the proper way. Thinking about how you think takes some thought. That’s slightly confusing but accurate. We all have seen how negative thoughts lead to negative actions, or often times inaction resulting in a failure to succeed at whatever you are doing or hope to do. Here comes that positive perspective again, usually from someone with wisdom. If you learn from your experience in failure, you gain knowledge, at least of what not to do. If you mix the collective experience of mistakes, failures, missteps and successes, improvements and triumph, then you gain wisdom. Your perspective shifts from darkness to enlightenment.
There are many words in our language that lend themselves to explaining or understanding perspective such as but not limited to:
Empathy – seeing or feeling who others feel.
Faith – complete confidence or trust in someone or something.
Truth – the quality or state of your truth.
Logic – reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles.
These are just a few examples of how if you change your perspective, it leads to many unique and powerful avenues of thought.
It transcends the mental landscape and into the physical world, especially in art. Artists use perspectives to represent three-dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface, such as a canvas or sheet of paper in a way that looks natural or realistic. It can also create an illusion of space and depth on a flat surface. Its mind blowing how one word in its scope can mean so many things and also, when applied to other precepts, feelings and concepts can mean so much. In so many words, perspective is attitude, thought, meaning and the search for the proper view for your personal method of understanding. Whether you have it or lack it, everything about your reality can change or become frozen in place because of how you adjust your perspective. I leave you with some famous views on perspective.
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein
“Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance and it allows us to appreciate their true value.” Rafael E. Pino
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer
About Merlisha Henderson: Merlisha lives in Arizona with her family. As a wife, mother and disability advocate in her community, she stays active and independent, working toward bringing equality and access to all. Click here to learn more about Merlisha.