You may have come across the picture that has a number drawn on the floor with two

people standing on either side of the number. One person sees a 6, and the other sees
a 9. They are both right, yet they are wrong in the eyes of the other person because of
their particular perspective on life.

They could either stay there arguing and holding on to their idea of what the number
is, or they could around and see the difference in their thoughts. This is perspective.

The world would be a better place if people understood a perspective on life can be
molded, changed, or explained. A lot of quarrels, battles, and wars could have been
avoided if people saw things from another person’s perspective.

We would raise better, empathetic, and more responsible adults if we taught kids
what perspective was, the importance of perspective, and why we may need to alter a
given perspective on life when faced with new information.

Before you start thinking of how you can start seeing things from the perspective of
another person, you might want to start by understanding the fundamentals of
perspective. You need to first know what a life perspective is

How Important Is Your Perspective on Life?

Your perspective on life determines how you relate to people, how you handle
relationships and troubles, and how you live day-to-day. You may not realize how
important your perspective on life is because we often feel that as long as other
people’s opinions and decisions do not affect us, ours should not affect other people.

However, the fact is that our perspective on life does affect the people around us.

Going back to the 6 and 9 analogy we began with, what we also have are two different
scenarios that can play out here.

We can end up having two adults who refuse to agree to disagree and separate after a
heated argument, destroying the chances of building a relationship.

We can also end up having two adults who swapped positions and perspectives and
looked through each other’s eyes for a minute to see that this could either be a 6 or a
9, depending on where they stood. This could graduate into handshakes, drinks later,
and the start of a friendship. And all they had to do was view things from a different
perspective.

Your perspective on life can either make or mar a relationship.

If you have a bad or negative perspective on life, it affects everything and everyone
around you negatively. You find yourself constantly being angry and not being able to
accept other people’s perspectives.

Other times you find yourself complaining and stressing over things that simply
require a small shift in your perspective.
Having a good perspective on life gives you an advantage. First of all, you are a lot
more open to seeing from other people’s perspective, thus making it easy for you to
create meaningful relationships.

It also gives you a lot more reasons to be grateful and happy. If you live a life where
you are constantly showing gratitude and being happy, then you have lived a fulfilled
life.

The moment your perspective on life comes to play, always remember that it is not
the alpha perspective and that the other person’s perspective matters as well.

Your perspective on life can also improve, and trying to get into someone else’s shoes
might show you the way to betting your thoughts and your attitude.

The beautiful thing about perspective is that it is subject to change. It is not

static, and the decision to alter it rests on you.

How to Change Your Perspective on Life

Changing your perspective is an active decision you have to make intentionally. First,
you have to come to terms with the fact that your current perspective on life is not
absolute and can be changed. Then, you have to understand the importance of having
a different perspective from the one you already have.

Once you have dealt with these, here are some active steps you can take to changing
your perspective on life.

1. Stop Complaining
Whatever the issue is, whenever you feel like complaining, fold your thumb, bite your
tongue, do something and make sure it stops you from letting out that complaint.
When you listen and try to understand more than you complain, you are beginning to
see things from diverse perspectives.

2. Consciously Seek Happiness

When you are happier, you will see things more positively and seek out more things
that make you happy. However, when you are constantly brooding and thinking
negatively, your perspective will never change, and soon all that negativity will begin
to spread around you like wildfire.

3. Reduce the Social Media Vitriol

Oftentimes on social media, people will post one thing and followers will take on a
different perspective regarding its meaning.
There were 20 bad to horrible things that happened today, but
I choose to focus on the one positive thing.”

I think this is something all of us know in life. Everything’s just

perspective. It’s common to see something along this line on a
leadership or inspiration quotation. You can choose what your
mind focuses on (believe it or not you can train your mind). You
may not be able to control what happens in your life at times,
but you can always choose how you react to it.

Life is really all about perspective. You can choose to focus on

the bad thing and let it ruin your day. Or you can choose to
focus on the small positive thing and make everything better. I
choose the latter. Stephen May 5, 2009