Perspective and Awareness Go Hand-In-Hand

Everyone has their own perspectives. This is true. And there really is no escaping it nor is there any ways around it. Things like personal experiences, relationships, expectations, beliefs, and feelings are things we learn over time. And over time, these attributes influence how we see things and how we understand what is happening around us. That’s why it’s easy to see how random people can experience a similar situation and walk away with completely different understandings of it.

When I used to encounter people who held different beliefs or different perspectives, I used to discredit them depending on how skewed or how different they were from mine. At some point, I’m sure I’ve even tried to convince others that their points of views or perspective weren’t right. Of course, that comes from an undeveloped and immature mind. And later, I learned something different. Having a perspective that’s different from someone else isn’t the problem. The problem begins when we fail to remember that it is just that – a perspective. So, let’s unpack that briefly.

It is an easy assumption to assume that the way we see things are simply the only way that they exist. If someone doesn’t pick up the phone when you call or find the time to call you back immediately, it’s not uncommon to decide that we’re being ignored. When people behave in a manner that is different then how we expected, we start assigning motive to their action. Or how about this, when something doesn’t work out well or in our favor, we start suddenly creating an entire story and back story outlining subconsciously what that means to our future. These types of reactions are an accurate response to what has actually happened. In fact, we are just reacting to what we believe it means, and the story created around it.

This is why mindful awareness is so significant. It doesn’t ask us to become distrusting. We don’t have to second-guess ourselves. However, what it does do is give us just enough space to recognize that what we see and how we interpret it is not necessarily the same thing. And that recognition, which commonly makes us curious, asks deeper and more probing questions. Could there be another explanation for what just happened? What kind of energy am I bringing to this situation? If someone else was evaluating this situation, would they come up with the same? While we may eventually still come to the same conclusion, at least we will have taken the time to first question our interpretation instead of immediately assigning truth to it.

Perspective gives us a place to see the world, and it shapes how we interpret it. Awareness, however, is poised to help us recognize that what we see and how we see it aren’t the only ways to view it. That small shift in our perspective creates new moments of clarity. And that’s a Kind Rebirth.

Stay mindful…

Rebirth