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Hi fellow Mechanics - welcome back.
Let's jump straight into this. Today, an important area of thought-life will be discussed and that is the area of perspective (one of its meanings is "a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view." Interesting the origins of the word stem from the Latin word that means "the science of optics".)
This lesson came from the day when the Chief was running close to his home in a beautiful place called Wongawallan. This is a rural area at the northern end of the Gold Coast in Australia. Running was challenging as the Chief's home was surrounded by undulating hills of virgin rain forest. This meant running up (and down) very steep hills at times, which was uncomfortable to say the least. To off-set the uncomfortable hills, and the proceeding thoughts that were generally not hugely positive, were the views that were available of the surrounding areas around Wongawallan. One particularly nasty hill had access to a view that was really an amazing look-out to observe the splendour of what seemed like the entire length of the Gold Coast. It was such an incredible scene that it always stopped the Chief in his tracks (who never really needed that much incentive to stop on this particular hill) to take it in for a few moments.
One day, the view once again trapped the Chief who had to stop (nothing to do with the hill of course) to take in its beauty. It was on this particular occasion the Chief starting to think about what he was thinking about. He quickly realised how his thoughts had changed. Before seeing the view his thoughts were focused around the frustration of how his lungs were working overtime trying to claw his body up this wonderfully steep hill. Now, looking at the view, his thoughts were much broader. They turned to opportunity, possibilities, "the world is such a big place" kind-of thinking. The thoughts changed so quickly with the view being the main catalyst of the thought change.
The Chief learnt that day the importance of perspective on what we think and our general thought life.
That beautiful view gave birth to empowered thought. Imagine what astronauts must experience when they first lay glimpse of the rotating Earth below their feet. Their thoughts would be directly proportionate to the perspective they have. That was the key lesson the Chief learnt. Perspective is such a key ingredient to how we think.
A perspective on perspective
We are not saying that everyone needs to start running up hills to find amazing views (although that is still not a bad idea if you can). The equivalent of changing your physical location or position to gain a different angle or view on something can also be achieved through your thinking. Changing your physical position relative to an object provides a different view of that same object. The object hasn't changed - you have just got a different view of it. Well, the same can be achieved with your thoughts.
The Chief experienced a revelation about bad thinking that helped change how he thought and what he thought about for ever. Nothing really changed apart form being gifted with a different perspective on how he could think about his thoughts.
Mental perspective is literally one-thought away. Its the freedom of knowing that you can change your view point on everything in your life. This is not to say you "fool" yourself into trying to make a challenging situation great but understanding no matter what the situation - your thoughts will be directly proportionate to your perspective of that situation. This is important because this one lesson places us directly at the epicentre of why Thinking Mechanics exists - how you think dictates your life.
One example comes from a friend of the Thinking Mechanics family. Our firmed shared news that her recently launched online business had been "copied" and that a website that looked very similar was launched in competition to hers. Our friend's initial reaction was to panic and feel angry that this had happened. When she came to the Thinking Mechanics household we discussed looking at the situation from another perspective. We felt it was a good thing. Competition breeds opportunity. It helps to ensure we remain in an innovative mindset to stay one step in front. It ensures we do not get complacent which helps to drive a business forward. Ultimately, it is a compliment that someone else felt our friends business was strong enough to copy....imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (as they say). We truely believed what we advised our friend which helped her develop a different perspective. The next day we asked her how she felt and her answer was "bring it on - time to knuckle down" Good-on-her.
Until the next posts - think well and think good.
(BTW- the photo on this post is one example of one of the views I was able to capture whilst living in Wongawallan - beautiful right?)