Perspectives
I was walking in downtown Jacksonville the other day and as I was rounding the corner of the block, I happened to look up. The building on the corner was quite elegant on the first few floors, but somehow it faded up into neglect and abandon. The top few floors had busted windows, graffiti and holes in the side of the building.
I thought to myself how different the building looks from one point of view versus another; how on the surface, at eye level, it seemed normal. Yet the more you observed it, looked up, got off your level, it was in tatters.
Your perspective is the same way. You look at something one way and it can be horrible. Yet if you turn the corner and look at it again, it can make all the difference. In short, your perspective changes everything.
Perspectives can be based on learned patterns, previous experiences and the circumstances that surround us. What you spend your time with watching, listening, speaking — those things are absorbed into your heart whether you know it or not. The news you read, the podcasts you listen to, the people you hang out with at lunch and after school — they will all leave some mark on you. That’s the beauty of life. But you have to decide whether it will be a pleasant mark or not. What you fill your mind and body with (via your ears, eyes and mouth) will eventually come out!
In my last post, I mentioned how my perspective can make a difference in my daily routine. I want to take that a bit further and talk about how you and I can change our perspectives in order to enjoy each day, find time for the things we love and really live life.
I have chosen to surround myself with positivity and love in everything. But I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m not very good at it. It’s a daily practice that I have to consciously work on. One of my biggest areas of improvement is that surrounding my personal time management skills. I have tremendously improved over the last year, but I have a few tweaks I want to make: I put things off, saying I need to get something else done, or forget about things because I’m too stressed about something else. So the question I have for myself, and for you once you know what areas you want to improve on, is how do we make the most of the time we have so we can really live my life?
Start in the morning. You’re thinking ugh, you’re going to be one of those peppy morning people. Trust me, I don’t think that could ever be possible. I dread mornings. They make me cringe. Getting up before the sun everyday and driving in the dark is awful. And therefore, because I find my mornings so awful, I want to change them. There is something those peppy morning people have right: they start they day with a smile. That’s got to count for something, because I know when I leave the house for work in a bad mood, it follows me the rest of the day.
So let’s start off the day right. I’ve created a small Pinterest board with photos that remind me of happy mornings, of days started off right. Take a gander and let me know what you think! I hope to recreate some of these moments in my own life. Here’s how I want to start:
1. Go to bed early. By doing so, I can get up earlier and do some things that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ll feel less rushed and in turn, less stressed about my day.
2. Keep the tech in another room. I reach for my phone before I even have a coherent thought in the morning. I would rather keep everyone else’s thoughts and experiences in another room until I can create my own for the day. This means I need to invest in an old-fashioned alarm clock!
3. What goes into the body eventually comes out (and I don’t mean into the toilet, though that is true too). I want to fill my body with good, nutritious food that sets me up for a healthy day. I want to move my body in a way that inspires it to grow and change for the better. I want to fill my mind with thoughtful words of love and faith.
I’ve been pretty good about keeping a nutritious breakfast routine of eggs and toast, occasionally some honeyed oats with fruit. But I have never had the motivation to work out in the mornings. I don’t think I want to. I like working out in the afternoon, it’s what works for me. But I would love, at least I really love the idea, of doing some deep stretching; slow and thoughtful movements that allow my body time to wake up, time to reach the very center of my being and get in tune for the day. Kind of sums up yoga right? Check out this chick on Instagram — she creates the neatest flows and does so by glorifying God all the time. Lastly, by filling my body and mind with love, I can project love out. I know I am terrible at having quiet time. Like my momma, I don’t like being still. But being still, reading the Word of God and focusing on prayer in the morning will connect me to a deeper place than I’ve ever been in daily life. I have been there and I don’t know why I stopped. But it’s time to get back to it.
So, these three (five?) things are going to be really really hard. But if I set up my mornings the right way, my perspective about the rest of my day WILL change. Sure, we all have bad days and they can’t be helped. But I can choose to maintain a sense of calm, peace and love. That perspective is the best perspective, because it always perseveres.
Having trouble changing your perspective? Start by examining one aspect of your life that you noticed brings you down. Is it a person? a place? a feeling? a thought? Figure out what it is and write it down. Once you have pinpointed the bad, it’s time to flood it with the good. Your daily perspective will change when you choose to counter it with something better. I like creating “mood boards” on Pinterest (I’m a visual person) like my morning board. Journaling is another great way to release any feelings of angst, negativity, stress and frustration. Once you’ve written down everything that is bothering you, counter it with all the good you can think about. Flood your mind with positivity and put it on paper too. It will help make it more real. Lastly, I would recommend gathering a few positive people to speak good things to your mind and soul. Let them show you what a cheerful, peaceful heart looks like and also let them pray over you. The wrong perspective can damage relationships, hearts, bodies and lives — don’t let the bad keep overwhelming you.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on perspective and how you start the day off right!
This post was originally published at www.elizabethlandrum.com
