WHAT IS PERSPECTIVE?
September 1, 2022 | Mindfulness
Almost everyone has been through a situation in their life in which they could be described as “suffering.” This suffering could be due to emotional pain or loss, physical pain, addiction, mental health related issues, or any number of factors. Often people in these situations are met with phrases from those who care about them such as “look on the bright side” or “it will get better, just give it time” – and often these phrases, although meant in good faith and love, result in little that can be applied to the situation at hand.
The ability to “look on the bright side” isn’t an easy task, and often is simply an insurmountable feat to accomplish – sometimes there isn’t a bright side to a situation at all. At the very least, the phrase “look on the bright side” does touch on the concept of what perspective can mean in terms of mindfulness practice.
Perspective is defined as: (n) The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance.
Perspective is not a way of viewing things, but rather it is an active/passive state of viewing things. That state is subject to change based on an individual’s own state of mind – influenced by their mental well-being, physical health, and often past trauma. Perspective itself is not positive, negative, or neutral, rather these terms are descriptors – these are the factors that we work to understand through mindfulness practice.
Positive and neutral states of perspective speak for themselves, and each have their own application in bettering one’s own transformation towards a healthy life. Negative perspective is the most powerful and simultaneously dangerous forms of perspective – and this is precisely why it is the easiest that we allow ourselves to slip into.
Negative perspective is reinforced by the fear mongering news streamed on television, constant battering of negative headlines on social media, and the chaos present in society itself due to pandemic and socio-political issues – it is not our fault that we get stuck in this perspective. Once we become aware of this though, it becomes our job as humans on middle earth to push towards a better future for ourselves, and work to transform our perspective and keep the negative perspective subdued. Each time that we do as such, it becomes easier, and we can further our own eclectic transformation towards a healthier and full life.
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