Do you want to change your life instantly? Change your perspective. You’ve heard Stephen R Covey’s story about the subway right? How he was annoyed and judging the man with the rambunctious kids until he learned that the man was inattentive to his overactive children because they’d just left the hospital where his wife, their mother, had died. Covey’s perspective changed and all his emotions and reality changed. Annoyance and judgement melted to compassion and love. That is how powerful perspective can be.
How do you see your world?
May I share a personal story? As a teenager I was tall and very thin. However my perspective was that I was overweight. Not uncommon for a teenager girl but my experience and pain went deeper. You see at the age of 12 my mom began sending me to weight loss classes like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. All through my teenage years I remember feeling fat, ugly, and different. I starkly remember sitting in the high school lunch room eating a salad with a boldly labeled Weight Watchers reduced calorie dressing while all my “skinny” friends ate pizza. I hated it and honestly I hated my mom for it. You see my perception was that my mom thought I was fat and that I was unlovable and displeasing. No matter how hard I tried to be thin I never felt good enough or pretty or thin enough. Just for some perspective this is a picture of me as a teen. 
My perspective about this experience and all the painful beliefs I created about myself through this affected me negatively for many, many years. It effected my self confidence, my weight, my relationships, how I parented and so much more. But guess what….it was my perspective, my stories. One day as an adult I learned the truth. The truth was my mom was not a terrible mother and she did love me. Would you like to know her perspective? From a young age my mom had always struggled with a few extra pounds. It had been very painful for her for most of her life. Through my childhood it was something she constantly struggled with. So as a loving mom she did not want me to have the same pain and struggle she did. However she didn’t feel she knew how to teach me how to be healthy as she still struggled. So because I was so healthy and beautiful she felt if she sent me to classes where people could help me learn to eat healthy and stay fit I would not have to experience the same pain she had. WOW! That is a very different perspective. One filled with love and tenderness not rejection and pain as I had felt.
My perspective for all those years has effected my life for decades in so many ways…and it wasn’t even true. What experiences are you hurting from? Is there possibly another perspective? You may have heard me share a story about a woman who was brutally abused. Her perspective could have easily become that she was not safe, worthy, powerful or lovable. She consciously chose the perspective that she was powerful, a survivor, and that her experience would not define her. She even chose a life of teaching women and teen girls how to heal and be safe!
The reality is that we can choose our own perspective! We can choose how to see things and the story and truth we apply to them.
So what is your perspective? About yourself, your spouse, how people see you, your kids, money…anything? Is there possibly another perspective, one that is is healing and loving? One that feels better? I recommend you start with prayer and consider if a change in perspective could heal your heart.
Is the glass half full or half empty? You choose.
I suggest you
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