Change Your Perception to Change Your Life

The choice of perception is an amazing thing.

And being able to view things from different perspectives can literally change your life.

No matter what your circumstance, if you put a positive spin on it, it will not only alter your outlook, but the change in thought pattern will open your eyes to greater opportunities.

For example, let’s say you grew up in a bad neighborhood with no father and very little money. This is a very common excuse people use as a reason not to chase their dreams. That is, they don’t have the resources or education to do what they want to do.

Or you may be someone who grew up middle class with both parents and access to the resources and a decent education. I’ve also heard people in this category make excuses for not realizing their dreams.

One common one is that because they didn't have enough hardship in life, they lacked the motivation for success. Or that they still don’t have enough resources since they don’t have a Harvard degree or connections to the elite.

And what about those born wealthy?

They definitely have the resources, connections, and probably even an Ivy league education, but they still fail to live the life they want. Perhaps they blame it on not being loved enough.

For all three instances I have the same lack of sympathy.

In every case there are many examples of people in similar situations who have gone on to do what they want in life.

In fact, unless you are born in certain countries where you truly don’t have any opportunity, such as warzones or being a female in Afghanistan, then you have no excuse for not doing what you want.

Furthermore, anyone born in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, most of Europe, or any other country with similar freedoms and without any major physical or mental disability has everything they need to attempt pretty much anything they want.

Alright, enough of that rant.

Besides putting a positive spin on things, the other major benefit of being able to change your perspective is the ability to see things from another person's point of view, which helps you cultivate empathy for others.

It also allows you to be unbothered, or at least more tolerant, when less than ideal circumstances arise. In the book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ Stephen Covey tells a story about undergoing a paradigm shift, which I believe illustrates this point well.

I’m going to butcher the story here, but basically a man gets on the train and his kids are running amok and disturbing everyone. Eventually, Stephen confronts the man saying something along the lines of “hey, control your kids.”

The response from the man reveals that they were on the way back from the hospital. His wife had just died and both he and the kids were still in shock and not handling it well.

You can imagine how after hearing that, Stephen’s point of view would change rapidly.

The point is, people behave in certain ways for many reasons unknown to you. It is only human to be the center of your own universe. After all, no one cares more about you than yourself. But being able to step out of your bubble and realize that there could be a thousand different reasons why something is the way it is or why someone is acting the way they are acting.

Essentially, unless someone or something is going to hurt you or someone you care about, there’s no reason to interfere or let it affect you.

The bottom line for this post is that you should exercise your ability to alter your perception. It takes conscious practice, but after a while you will start to naturally see the positive side in most things which can literally change your life, as well as increase your tolerance level which in turn leads to a life of much lower stress.