Changing Your Perspective

Changing your perspective.

I’ve recently written about changing the words you use to help you gain a better understanding of your circumstances. I’ve also written about using a list as a strategy to generate more possible solutions to a problem. 

Today I’m writing about changing your perspective. We’ve all heard the adage about wearing someone else’s shoes. Basically, this is a reminder to try to look at something from another’s point of view. 

Bill O’Hanlon in The Change Your Life Book, offers another value of perspective. When you are struggling to make a decision about a problem in your life think about how someone else might go about solving it. 

If you have a tendency to be more pessimistic, O’Hanlon suggests thinking about, “the most optimistic person you know.”  How would that person approach the problem?  Would following their lead work out better for you, and give you a different perspective?

I can’t help but be reminded of the What Would Jesus Do craze of the nineties. Many a young person wore the letters WWJD on a bracelet around their wrist as a way to stop, and think about their actions. 

O’Hanlon also recommended thinking about, “the most effective problem-solver you know.”  The reality often is that some people just seem to have a knack for solving problems. How might they approach the situation? 

His final idea had to do with how you would, “view the situation” in the future. Ask yourself what if I were making this decision five, ten or even twenty years from now? This really hit home for me as I thought about the fleeting nature of time, and how what I am capable of doing today, might not even be possible in the future. 

What is something you are struggling with? Perhaps it’s time for a change of perspective?