I’ve been talking a lot about perspective lately. Which perspective is most positive, whose perspective are we listening to, and why perspective even matters.
Today, I want to focus on how perspective is achieved.
All too often, we cannot get ourselves in the right frame of mind, or we cannot get past a certain challenge, block, or obstacle. And the reason we cannot do so is because we are not moving.
We are not moving from our comfort zone. We are not moving from our “business as usual” stance. We are not moving from our current beliefs.
You see, we can never gain perspective from a fixed point.
For example, if you look at a ball with one eye closed, it looks like a flat circle. But once you open your other eye, it becomes a sphere.
Why? Because your other eye is just a few inches to the left or right. It has a different viewpoint.
If you look at a glass of pond water, it looks clear, maybe a little cloudy. But if you look at it under a microscope, you find it is teeming with life squiggling around and around.
The water hasn’t suddenly changed; it’s the same, but you have changed your viewpoint by zooming in very, very close. And so, for you, the water has change. You see it completely differently now with a new perspective.
And the same is true when you are solving a problem, working with a “difficult” customer or coworker, or even battling your own inner thoughts and beliefs.
If you continue to look at a problem in the same way, from the same position, using the same thoughts that got you where you are, you’re not going to suddenly find a new way to solve it. You can’t. You’re working with the same set of circumstances.
But when you take a step in another direction, any direction, you begin to see this problem from a new viewpoint, a new perspective.
- When you set your mind in motion, you become curious of other points of view.
- When you set your mind in motion, you become open to new and different possibilities.
- When you set your mind in motion, you become an agent of opportunity.
Perspective can only come from moving to a new space, looking from the left, the right, the top, the bottom, or up close, or far away.
It is only when we shift our eyes, or move our feet from a fixed position that we can see that the wall in front of us is only a few inches taller, or a few feet wider, or even made of thin plywood, and easily scaled, walked around, or broken through.
By merely shifting our gaze, or moving our feet, we begin to see a workable solution.
It only takes a tiny shift, the inches between our eyes to know that a ball is spherical and not flat.
Imagine how much we could achieve if we just moved a little bit each day to see things from a different angle, if we opened our minds just a little bit to see things from another person’s view, if we looked past our own limiting beliefs to seize opportunity with unlimited scope and infinite perspective.
Go ahead, take a step. Move from your comfortable position, and see things in a new light, at a new angle, from a new perspective.
It will give you a broader vision, a deeper understanding, and a better way to achieve more successful outcomes.
Your Mindful Moment:
Perspective is achieved from movement, whether physical, mental, or emotional. Only by shifting our gaze, our beliefs, or our interpretations can we attain full understanding.