Perspectives

Have you ever disagreed with someone on a given topic only to find yourself changing your thoughts about that particular topic at a later date? As example, something you disagreed with, in the past, can become something you agree with in the future. That process can also happen in reverse. What you once agreed with, you now disagree with.

Think back to your teenage years. Most of us think much differently as adults than we did as teenagers. Something happens that causes us to change positions about morals, tolerances, opinions, ideas and beliefs.  We can find ourselves sometimes changing our beliefs, thoughts and preferences to an exact opposite position. Those types of changes are referred to, in the disciplines of psychology, as “Perspectives.” We sometimes confuse or misuse the word perspective with a related word, perception.

What’s the difference? “Perception is what you see, and perspective is how you see it.”

It’s not as complicated as it may sound. I can explain it with a simple example. Let’s say you find a dog. This is your first experience with a dog. You are excited about having a new dog, and you begin to think of basic things the dog may need. It’s a big dog so it must stay outside, and to do that, you must provide the dog a house. So, you build your new dog a dog house. It’s nothing fancy, so you decide to add something to make it different. You go to the paint store and buy some red paint, and you paint the dog house red. Now, you no longer have just a plain dog house. You now have a “red” dog house. Next year you can change the color to green, and it will then be a green dog house.

The dog house represents a perception and the red paint represents the perspective. The house is what you see, and the red color is the way you see it.

What’s the point? Here it is. In life we all see things, and we all can usually agree on what we see. However, we may individually see the same thing in many different ways. We can usually agree on what we see but disagree with how we see it. Our individual perspectives in life have a significant impact on us all. In our current state of affairs, we all generally agree with what we see but differ in how we see it. So, do we have any individual responsibilities to our perspectives? Yes, we do!

Number one, our perspectives should be directed from our own internal thoughts and feelings. We must be responsible for thinking through all perceptions and identifying our individual perspectives from our own heart-centered choice. Our individual perspective may be significantly different from the average perspective of the contemporary group. Being on the outside is not the most comfortable place to be. So, most people simply acquiesce with the perspectives of the general group and simply give up on what they know they feel.  When we give in to general consensus, we sabotage our own genuine perspective.

Number two, never assume that your perspective is wrong when all around you tell you it is! Genuine perspective is always a personal thing. It should never be accepted simply because everyone seems to be holding a different perspective. How you feel (your Perspective) about something (your Perception) is a feeling that is driven from your subconscious, which holds many lifetimes of memory. When you get that “gut-level” feeling that the way you see something represents your truth, hold on until you can confirm through experience or time whether you should keep it or change it.

Number three, anchor your perspectives in love. Love is all there is in reality. So, if you find your perspectives anchored in fear, you have no perspectives because love is all there is. I know! I can hear you from miles away saying, “WHAT?”  So, bear with me for one more sentence.  If any perception (what you see) is only interpreted by fear (what you feel), you have neither an accurate perception or perspective. Why?  Because love is all there is, and fear cancels out love.

In summary, take the next few days and begin to observe and analyze both your perceptions (what you see) and your perspectives (how you see it). Observe any perspective that you feel to be fear-based. Now, begin to reconstruct that perspective into a perspective of love. When you begin to interpret your perceptions (what you see) with love (how you see it), your entire life becomes filled with the perspective of love.  I think that is possibly the key to a life filled with the only perspective which promotes life — LOVE!

Until next time, God Bless!

David Byrd