A Matter of Perspective

Life simply is.  Whether life is good or bad is a matter of opinion.  It’s a matter of perspective.

A stone simply is.  When the artist looks at the stone, they may choose to paint a realistic landscape with the stone at its center.  A graphic designer may choose to create a stylized representation of the stone in just two colors.  A poet may choose to create haiku about the stone.  A journalist may choose to write a story about the significance of the stone within the context of some greater political issue.  And when a sculptor looks at the stone, they see within it the hidden potential of the next Venus or David locked away inside.  Regardless, the stone remains a stone.  The physical properties of stone still apply.  It may simply appear different.  At its essence, it is still the same; it is still stone.  

What makes the difference is what the individual brings to the stone.  It’s about the perspective.

In the world we live in, we have to expect difficulty.  We have to expect challenge.  We have to expect adversity.  All these are guaranteed.  All those good times are guaranteed, too, but I find that people seldom lament their good fortune, their propensity for having such fantastic and transformative experiences.  No, most of the time, when we obsess, we obsess over the moments that just don’t seem to go our way.  Even then, with hindsight, we can often find benefit from the difficult times.  Unfortunately, hindsight doesn’t help us in the moment.  In the moment, we seem to be incapable of assessing our situation from just more than one perspective.

Applying multiple perspectives to life is about looking at life in the moment, from multiple emotional states, to help you understand yourself better.  To see those positive perspectives at the moment of great adversity takes work.  It takes deliberate and conscious effort to push through the fear and the anguish.  It’s not easy, but doing so will help us find a resolution to the problem at hand more quickly.  It clears the mind, and it opens us up to the creative possibilities.  We are at our most powerful when we are applying our strengths to any situations and actively co-creating resolution.  It beats the alternative: waiting for resolution to find us, then reverse-engineering a positive perspective.

Positive perspective in the moment is a tool we can learn to use not only for ourselves but for those we influence.  Whether or not you lead formally is irrelevant.  Every human being we interact with every day of our lives, once they come into contact with us, fall into our sphere of influence.  We all lead by example.  The power of positive influence, or the influence of positive thinking, is immeasurable.  It’s as easy to benefit from it as it is to share the benefits with the world.

In the work that I do as a leader of people for a large organization, my perspective is often the best gift that I have to offer.  My role is often that of coach and of supporter.  People come to me often with issues, knowing that I will listen and offer them my unique perspective.  People don’t normally come to me for my technical expertise or because I know the right people or because I hold the organizational hammer over them.  I think people come to me because I will listen.  If all I can offer is a positive perspective each and every day, then I’ve managed to achieve something meaningful.  In many ways, I believe this gift of being present for others is the purpose of life.

The next time someone comes to you seeking your counsel or you find yourself in a moment of despair, gripped by fear, think first about positive perspective.  Choose to find that perspective.  Apply it.  It can make all the difference in the world.

We are the painters, the graphic designers, the poets, and the sculptors of our lives.  Life, in the end, is precisely what we make of it.  Whether the moments in life are good or bad…that’s all a matter of perspective.