This Is Why Shifting Your Perspective Can Change the World
Photo courtesy of ChanceAgrella on freerangestock.com
Our world has gone through so much throughout its history, and of course the last two years have shown our resilience and ability to stick together, to become closer despite forced distances, and to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges.
These last two years have also resulted in more recent divisiveness and anger, people taking sides, some of them refusing to listen to the other side and insisting their own is “the right one.”
I do not allow negative or controversial topics on either of my pubs; there is enough negativity and unhappiness in the world, I refuse to add to it. My pubs are a reflection of who I am, what I stand for, and what I believe. I want readers to leave my pubs feeling better than when they arrived. I want them to feel uplifted, happy, and inspired. I want them to be entertained and have a laugh — all the same as what I try to do in my daily interactions with others.
I believe that the more positivity and Light we add to the world, the more power we have to overcome Dark Forces and negativity. Is it a Pollyanna attitude? Perhaps. But at the very least, it is a joyful thing to spread smiles and hope, to sprinkle other people’s lives with something inspiring and fun, even if it’s just a kind word or a “cyber hug.”
The global events of the past year or so in particular that have left us so divided, and the Russia/Ukraine horror that is now unfolding as of last week inspired me to write the following:
As a hypnotist, I’ve got a good working knowledge of the subconscious. It is utterly fascinating to me that every single thing we’ve ever experienced is recorded and buried in those secret vaults. Billions of bits of information are logged in our brains, with 90% of that information being unknown to us — unless we access it, for example with hypnosis.
The accumulation of information begins when we’re still warm and snug inside our mothers’ bodies. Adrenalin crosses the placenta, so when Mummy feels stressed and anxious, so does her baby. Although muted, we hear her angry or fearful voice, and those of anyone with whom she is arguing. We can also hear soothing sounds of love and feel the chemical changes in her body when she is relaxed and at peace.
We are born and immediately begin experiencing life in another way. Our environments teach us what to expect — even if it is the unexpected, the unpredictable.
By the time we reach adulthood, we’ve had a wealth of experience that acts like a filter through which we view everything that happens to us or around us, even if we have no conscious memory of that experience. It colours everything we think, feel, hear and see.
“What is behind your eyes holds more power than what is in front of them.” — Gary Zukav
When I was studying homeopathy, the class would sometimes witness a case- taking. We would all be present at the same time, hearing the same patient give the same information, giving the practitioner mental, emotional and physical symptoms in detail. We would then work out the case as we’d been taught, choosing which particular bits of information we thought were essential in determining which remedy to give.
It was always surprising to me how a room full of people could watch and listen to the same patient at the same time and come up with so many different aspects to a case at once, and with several different remedies offered up as possibilities — when the trick is to find the one that is correct.
But this is because of our filters.
For example: A little girl loves her daddy. They’re very close. They spend lots of time playing together. He takes her to the park, reads stories, plays games. Sometimes he puts her in the car for a special day out, just the two of them.
She grows up and sees other daddies with their little girls and thinks how lovely it is. She thinks the little girls are very lucky.
Another little girl fears her daddy. He is too close. He spends lots of time doing very bad things to her. Sometimes he puts her in the car and takes her to a place where no one can see what they are doing, just the two of them.
She grows up and sees the same daddies with the same little girls as the other woman saw, and she thinks how terrifying it is. She thinks the little girls are very much abused.
These extremely different filters colour the same situation in two completely opposite ways.
When we have problems with other people, for example disagreements or some sort of altercation, our filters give us our perception of what happened. Whatever we think about it is what makes us feel the way we do.
It is the same for those who are on the other side of the same event or situation. Their filters will give them viewpoints that come from their own experiences and beliefs. Unrelated past emotional wounds can twist and distort reality, although it is not necessarily obvious.
“There are no facts, only interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
Personality clashes also play a part in creating differing perspectives on the same situation. For example, some people are naturally more rigid and “black and white” in their thinking; there’s one way to do something and if it wasn’t done that way, it’s a problem.
Others are more easygoing and open-minded. They can see alternatives and understand that there could be more than one — or two — or three (+) ways to do something.
So there’s your side, and there’s the other person’s side. And somewhere outside both experiences of the same event lies the truth. Somewhere in the mess that has been created are the facts, plain and simple, the unvarnished truth of the matter. No emotions involved, no history, just facts — exactly what was said and done, as it unfolded, without any judgement, as seen by the eyes of the Universe. How all parties view the situation, and what they choose to do with it, is often quite another story. Or rather, several.
Sometimes we try to cram our views down the throats of others. We want to be heard. We need to be believed. We want to be right.
But at what cost? At the cost of our dignity? Our self-respect? And what about the cost to innocent bystanders? To people who get caught in the crossfire? What about the damage done to them?
Understanding that others do not necessarily share your viewpoint doesn’t make it any less valid. And it doesn’t necessarily make theirs any less valid either. But when we can accept that all of us are human, all of us make mistakes, all of us get things wrong, all of us are flawed, and every one of us has a filter that never quits, perhaps this can help to settle differences.
Perhaps we can simply agree to disagree and get on with our lives, and if there are innocent bystanders who were damaged in the wreckage, perhaps an apology is in order, followed by doing anything possible to leave them out of it in the future.
There comes a time for peace. For healing. Our world and so many people in it could use a good dose of both. Perhaps today, and every day, there’s something you can do toward making that happen.