Changing Our Perspective
When something happens to upset or discourage me, I can feel as if I’m being blown off course and out of control. My mind chatter can become extremely negative. It’s at times like these that I have to work on shifting my attitude, to prevent myself sinking down into a black hole with this train of thought.
An example of this happened the other afternoon. My eldest daughter had been admitted to hospital with severe emotional turmoil and was in need of support and rest to ease her troubled mind. We had spent the weekend travelling down to her home some distance away, to support my two grandchildren 18 and 16 to make sure that they had the necessary plans in place to be able to manage whilst their mother was away from home.
We had an extended family meeting to put in position what was necessary for their wellbeing, with a lot of helpful discussion. However, we returned home exhausted, with empty tanks. All the ‘what ifs’ swirled around our minds, creating a very negative perspective. We were both beginning to feel helpless and powerless.
I realized that for my own well-being it was necessary for me to swiftly change my attitude to this situation. Instead of looking at what seemed to be an insurmountable mountain to climb, we shifted our thoughts to focus on what we had actually achieved by our efforts. We chose to reframe our thinking and as a result were able to identify the various positive steps we had accomplished with our actions.
The situation hadn’t changed but our attitude had shifted for the better. We began to feel some hope again, which helped to revitalize our energy.
Instead of dripping toxic chemicals into my body from my negative thoughts, I mentally shifted my perspective, confirming my inner strength and the outlook changed.
This experience is a reminder that when life’s difficulties cause us to feel disturbed and victimised, it is helpful to remember that these situations do not occur as some perverse trick to stop our progress or unbalance our mental well-being.
Life’s events just happen and they happen to all of us. So instead of seeing the problem as a huge hurdle, we possess the power to shift our attitude. This allows our perspective to change so we can view the struggle being experienced in a different way. In so doing, we can reclaim our power. We can then move forward from this point in a positive way. Hopefully we also avoid disappearing into a black pit of despair and gloom.
We do have choices as to how we perceive the things that happen to us. Shifting our attitude to a different, more positive perspective, increases our determination to keep going.
We can use this experience as another learning tool to reinforce how capable we can become at dealing with life’s deviations.
Confirming our strength in this way, allows us to focus on what we want to happen, It prepares us to move forward and carry out whatever action is required, in the given situation.
This is another form of self-respect, which is being mentally faithful to ourselves.
What matters is how we view the things that happen to us – instead of focusing on the detail of what these things are. Even when there might seem little to feel good about, it is possible to find a more positive perspective if we look hard enough.
Shifting our attitude is an excellent tool to strengthen our power and help us feel more confident about ourselves and our wellbeing.
Author of memoir ‘Wearing Red, One Woman’s Journey to Sanity’
Available at www.browndogbooks.uk (paperback)and www.amazon.co.uk (e-book)