Perspective - Day 1

Whenever other people say we’ve got to keep things in perspective, I wonder whose perspective they’re talking about—mine or theirs.

Perspective is more than a point of view. It’s looking at things closely and looking from a distance.Sometimes what immediately appears to be a full-blown crisis later becomes a minor problem. Even later on, our perspective may change again. What was at first a full-blown crisis, then a problem, later becomes a blessing.Most of us have taken pictures with a camera. We can photograph something from different angles and different distances. The same object can look entirely different from far away than it does up close.Sometimes we watch a friend, loved one, acquaintance, or stranger experiencing a problem.

We may judge them, think it’s ridiculous, or not understand. Later on in life, when we find ourselves experiencing that problem, we begin to see it differently.That’s because we’re seeing it up close.There was a time when my point of view was the only way I saw each scene. When we watch a movie or read a book, we usually hear the story told from one person’s point of view. When we’re living our lives, we can get that way too. As we’re working our way through all the scenes that make up our destiny, we can narrowly think the only main character is us and the only real point of viewis ours.We each have different backgrounds, histories, intentions, goals, hopes, and dreams.

We each have different feelings. We have different levels of history to draw on in our problem-solving skills. And each of us has at least a slightly different approach to life.

We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are—at any point in time.

Value: Perspective is the value this week.

From the book: 52 Weeks of Conscious Contact