Before I learned about changing my perspective, I felt as if I had to control the environment around me. Now, knowing that this method is quite literally IMPOSSIBLE, I learned that I could control something else: my perspective. Have you ever seen someone talk about the same event as you, but theirs is just so… depressing? For example:
Perspective #1: Omg, I just saw the cutest cat! It was so fluffy and so adorable!
Perspective #2: Did you see that cat? It must be a struggling, homeless cat. I wonder if it’s been abandoned.
You see how they have both seen the same event, and their perspectives are polar opposites. Now, I don’t expect someone to be 100% positive, but if you can look at the positive, it helps so much! To me, it allows the situation to have a bit of happiness.
Flip it
If ever I’m in a situation that I’m starting to whine about, I find all the positives that are going on in that situation. Usually, I just flip whatever the complaint is about into something more positive. If not, I find the positives that are going on outside of that situation. There’s just something about finding the positives that boosts my mood, personally. Sometimes, it could be the smallest thing that brightens my day… even if it was just a little bit.
There’s a bunch of things that you could really nitpick and gripe about. On the flip side, there’s a bunch of things that you can really appreciate. I appreciate the sky for being the portrait for the sun. I appreciate the flowers for displaying their beauty and allowing me to bask in their beauty. I appreciate the Earth and all that it does to support everything that inhabits it. If you can look at anything, look at it with the glass half full. There’s way too many people who are looking at the world as if the glass is half empty.
Try it at least for a week
Now, you may be skeptical… So, why not give it a try? Flip the complaint into a positive. It may not work for EVERY single complaint that you have, but it may help for the majority of your complaints. You may feel better throughout the day, or you may feel as if the week wasn’t as bad as you thought it was.
Okay, I did a week… What now? Well, why stop at just 1 week? Why not just continue to implement the routine until it eventually becomes a habit of yours. That’s at least how I started. I would flip all the complaints that I would hear myself go ON and ON about. Eventually, I started to check myself and flip it automatically.
And I’ll be honest, there are days where I just feel defeated. Sometimes this exercise of changing perspective just isn’t the move for that day, and that’s okay as well. Again, I don’t want people to think that now they have to be this 24/7 piece of sunshine that makes everything a positive thing. It’s rather if you see yourself spinning in a spiral of negativity, to stop that before it snowballs out of control.
Positivity has so much power
I really don’t know how to explain why this is such a crucial habit that can be implemented that can have such a positive change in your life. And you can disagree if you don’t believe me. But, I know that, for me, I highly recommend this method to others and just ask them to give it a try. I was talking to my mom and discussing how much a compliment from someone has brightened a drab day.
If positivity from someone else can produce such an immense effect, I wonder how much an effect I can give myself? So, if you’re a skeptic, I would honestly recommend that you try it out just a couple times. Better yet, make it a science experiment. Try one day where you go about the day just as you normally would. Observe how many times you may complain. Observe how you feel as you complain and your mood the whole day.
Then, the next day, you can try this perspective method and see how much of a difference it makes in your day-to-day life. At the very least, you can say that you gave it a try. And if it didn’t work out, then my method or methodology isn’t right for you.
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