Although I's a day late, this is part of the 5 minute Friday community, a community of writers who write for 5 minutes each Friday based on a one word prompt. Come join us and play along!
Perspective is what you choose to see and how you choose to see it. It is fundamental to the ability to grow. We are collectively in difficult times right now. Some of the difficulties we are facing are fear, loss, isolation and lonilness, frustration, anxiety and worry about the future. Many have had to give up or postpone beautiful dreams, many are struggling to keep their business afloat, many are fearful of getting sick or someone they love getting sick. And if we don't choose to see anything but the pain, the loss the difficulty we are going to struggle to maintain our mental, physical and spiritual health.
Perspective taking isn't refusing to see reality or viewing the world through rose colored glasses. It is the flexibility to choose to maginify what is good, what is positive what is truth and even what is opportunity, without losing the reality of the hard stuff and pretending it's not there. It is there, but resiliency and growth beckons us to transend it by focusing on whatever possibilites exist for us to use this crisis to redeem something about ourselves or something about our community or the world.
I love the above image and I chose it from stock photos at unsplash.com because of the focus on the bridge rather than the river. It is a reminder to look for the way over, around, above our current difficulties to get to the other side. Perspective involves the ability to let go of previous held notions and beliefs about the way things should be and allowing for a new approach. You can take perspective whenever their is a challenge or crisis. You can alter or seek someone elses perspective in conflict, you can look at a work problem with new eyes, and you can see yourself and your capabilites differently with a shift in perspective. Shifting perspective propels us forward when we may otherwise feel stuck and hopeless. It
is the power to change something internally when the external circumstances can't be changed.