The Power of Perspective

A little while ago I was in the gift shop of the Phoenix Art Museum and was looking at the magnets with the sayings on them. On this day I found one that said simply, “The barn burned down; now I can see the moon.” I liked it immediately. When I went to the cashier to check out, clearly she saw it (and me) as a little weird and asked me, “Is this a joke for a friend? I hope they have a good sense of humor.”  I was taken aback because it never occurred to me that it was in any way humorous. What it says to me is all about the power of perspective, and more importantly, our power to choose how we will look at and respond to any given situation. I think all of us have been conditioned to look immediately at the downside of the things that happen to us that seem to be problematic or inconvenient. Rarely do we step back to look at the whole of the issue, that is, what positive results might there be from this experience. Regarding the saying on the magnet, this farmer’s barn has just burnt down, and clearly that sucks. But rather than dwelling on his misfortune, he is choosing to look at the more positive side in that now he has an unobstructed view of the beauty of the moon.

How we choose to look at things, (i.e. our perspective) governs the emotions that will arise as a result of those experiences. Often the suffering we endure as the result of a negative experience comes from the fact that our egos immediately jump out in front saying, ‘Why did this happen to me? I don’t deserve this! I won’t take this! Nobody’s going to treat me this way!” and so on. This knee-jerk emotional reaction (of which we are all guilty at some time) prevents us from taking a different and more positive perspective on what has happened.  What I have found can be very helpful is to take a step back to see what has happened simply as something that has occurred, not something that has occurred to us.  By taking a more objective look at the situation, we dampen the negative fight or flight emotions of fear or anger or embarrassment, allowing us to view the situation rationally and with calm detachment.  When we do that, the solution or way out of the situation is more accessible to us. In fact, when viewed without the negative emotions, we may just discover that there is no real problem at all, except in our original perception of the situation. This can result in an overwhelming experience of freedom that feels like a large, cool, calming breath.

In training ourselves to do this, we begin to view the things that happen to us as they are, rather than what we would like them to be or not to be. In so doing, we find that we get upset a lot less often, because we realize there is little to be upset about, and that getting upset solves nothing. Some people of a religious bent say, “When God closes a door, he opens a window.” It’s the same thing. The key is to stop looking at the door hoping it will open again, and to start moving toward the window. It is a given that stress is an ever-increasing problem in the world we now inhabit. And while none of us can eliminate the stress entirely, the simple truth is that each one of us possesses the power to drastically reduce the amount of stress in our lives by choosing to step back and take another perspective whenever we are faced with one of life’s challenges.

Try this. The next time you are caught in a traffic-jam, when the urge comes to look at your watch, pound the steering wheel, and swear a blue steak, choose not to. Take a deep breath, accept the reality that you can’t do anything about it and through no fault of your own, may be late for an appointment.  Having once accepted that, you can sit back, find a mellow station on the radio and enjoy the opportunity to rest that you would not otherwise have had. Look around you and notice the people in the other cars as their frustration takes hold. Without judging them, realize that through your own choice and by exercising your own power, you have found an oasis of calm amidst a sea of turbulence. More importantly, recognize that it is a place you can go to whenever you want, because that place lies within you. It all depends on the way you look at it.