Perspective

Elliott
Elliott
Nov 3 · 2 min read

Perspective. It is an incredible thing, maybe the only important thing that exist:

  • There is nothing to be afraid of when we are able to hold things into perspective
  • Perspective allows us to deal with difficult things in our life
  • Everything is already help in perspective — it’s just what perspective are we using?
  • Perspective is similar to “meaning” or “the bigger picture” or “seeing things long term” or “not getting caught up in the ups and downs of day to day life” and “not overthinking”. It’s really about what word or phrase gives the most emotional meaning to you and does what it’s supposed to do which is give you perspective, meaning, etc.
  • Here’s some examples of how I give myself perspective: 1) I can only control what I say, I can’t control how other people behave 2) It’s not so important the successes and failures of each individual day, just that I’m making some progress towards my goals — my life is the house that comes from the composition of bricks that each represent a day of my life. There are 29,200 days/bricks in an 80-year life/house. Because it’s so much more important to be conscientious about the bricks that are being laid *each and every day* rather than hyper-focused on one day, it’s important to find a way to enjoy that conscientiousness. 3) Our actions have consequences — both positive and negative 4) There is no capital-T True story about myself — me and my life is a factor of the story I tell myself
  • All fear and anxiety are a result of one’s perspective — this isn’t a judgment of fear and anxiety, sometimes they can be useful. It’s just good to keep that in mind. It can do the same for love, joy, and connection. At the same time, perspective is not the only factor of one’s feelings. It has an enhancing or modifying impact on what one is already feeling — although what one is already feeling is likely already a factor of one’s perspective.
  • Often feelings are perfectly valid to feel and denying or fighting existing feelings has opposite the intended effect. But having the bravery to change one’s perspective can diminish the strength of negative feelings and add more positive feelings to the mix
  • Having strong long-term confidence, self-esteem, and security must come from one’s perspective since without perspective one will eventually get caught in the ups and downs of each day, of the difficulties of dealing with people, of struggle, heartache, challenge, setbacks, etc.
  • Perspective *is* about not seeing the present moment as the full source of meaning.

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