Have you ever noticed how sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can spot something you’ve never noticed. I find this a lot with design and coding work. I won’t be able to find a mistake, and I’ll get so frustrated I have to get up and walk away. After a break, when I come back with fresh eyes the mistake is usually glaringly obvious.
It’s the same with your life. If you think about it, how you feel is largely determined by how you see things. So when you’re feeling stuck, if you change the way you approach your stuckness, you’ll often find a way to move forward.
Perspective is everything, and if you can find a way to change yours, then you may find a new view of your life that is very different than what you’ve been living.
“But I don’t know where to start!”
Just like any other change, changing the way you look at things can be scary at first. If you don’t know where to start, you’re definitely not alone.
Here are five ways you can change your perspective, so that you see your life in a different light.
1. Look for the positive in each situation
Often we tend to see events that impact us negatively in the worst possible light. But if you can find a positive spin to put on it you may see things differently. It might not even turn out to be about you.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
What if your two best friends went out shopping together and didn’t invite you. You may feel rejected, left out, and even a little ticked off at them.
If you were to think of positive reasons why this might have happened, you may come up with reasons why this could happen that have nothing to do with you. Maybe in was a spur-of-the-moment thing, where they were both running out to get something quickly. Maybe you have a birthday coming up, and they were shopping for your birthday present.
When you can change your perspective to view things in a positive way, you’ll find your life begins to be more positive as well.
2. Allow the improbable to become possible.
It’s easy to get caught up in seeing difficult things as impossible. But when you stop and think about it, every impossible thing begins with a seed of possibility that requires you to stretch your boundaries to achieve.
So what would happen if you allowed yourself to suspend disbelief and changed your perspective to view the improbable or impossible and something you could achieve?
One of the areas I’ve found this works is in my attempts to lose weight. As soon as I switched my perspective from dieting and deprivation to clean eating and making lifestyle changes, what I thought was an impossible goal is slowly becoming a reality.
3. Change your perception of other people.
This is similar to the first point, but I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not easy to do. We get an idea of what someone should be like, formed from gut instincts and first impressions, and it’s not always easy to change that.
The other time it pays to change how you look at people is if you’ve been upset or hurt by someone. Sometimes it’s intentional, but often it’s not and we can hold on to a lot of resentment and negative energy that keeps us stuck because we’re not willing to let go of it.
When you see things in a more positive light, consider that they were having a bad day, and that it had nothing to do with you. If you can let go of the hurt and not hold a grudge you can change the way you react to that person, and change your own life at the same time. They might not even be aware that you’ve been hurt by their actions because it was never about you in the first place! As the saying goes, the only person that gets hurt by you holding on is you.
4. Keep an open mind.
In order to grow and move forward, you have to meet new people and get involved in new situations. Life stands still if you’re not open to change. And believe me, as someone who let their life stand still for years… it’s not much fun.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself is keep an open mind and just take a leap into the unknown. Your best ideas may come from being open to change and hearing other people’s perspectives.
5. Avoid falling back into your old patterns.
The trick to changing the way you see things is to not allow yourself to fall back on your old perceptions of how things should be. For example, if you’re trying to see your life in a more positive light, then looking at people and events through the lens of negativity is not going to help you move forward.
If you practice these tips to change your perspective, the things you look at in your life will also change. Best of all, perhaps, is that you will discover the power you have over your own life and emotions, and this will give you the confidence to live the best possible life you can.
When you’re tempted to fall back into your old way of seeing, remember this:
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be” ~ Lao Tzu
I can’t wait to see what you become!
