The Power of Perspective

New points of view can mean the world to your change and growth.

Recently I have been doing some traveling and it has never been more clear to me just how valuable dissenting opinions and differences can be.

Most people move away from anyone that is different from them. They avoid challenges to their current views of life by associating with people who are only the same as themselves. When this happens they feel comfortable and connected with others.

But they miss the biggest opportunities for growth.

While living in this safe inhabitance where nothing is really changing or challenging can be comfortable and may feel good, a person doesn’t grow in this existence.

When things are always the same then there isn’t really anything to be added or subtracted from a person’s life. It is static and maybe even a little boring.

This all leads to stagnation and staying where you currently are.

However when you are open to new perspectives and ideas on life then everything changes. This is where you open up to life.

We like people who are the same as us. This is a basic concept in NLP and life of rapport. Sameness brings about you liking others, but what can be more powerful is you understanding others and being open to even newer perspectives.

Opening yourself up to new ideas and new people can be tremendously challenging, but the benefits are immense.

When you get a different perspective on life you can decide to live better. You have the opportunity to gather new information and apply that information in only useful ways to you. When you do this you can open yourself up to new possibilities.

We don’t know what we don’t know.

It is true in fact that when we are going through life and we don’t have the experiences of differences then little growth is possible for us. This awareness of the experiences limiting us to what always has been can be blocking us from coming to new realizations on how we can live better, instead we live in the same ways as we have always done.

When this happens we become stagnate and stuck in place in our growth. This limitation upon ourselves can inhibit the possibilities that one can experience.

Here in Bali I am interacting with all sorts of new and interesting people, but one interaction stands out in a sense how a new perspective can make all the difference.

I walked into my new place to stay near the rice field. I could hear pans clattering in the fields as it was the norm, but little else to be heard. I had just moved away from the city and this rice field was far more relaxing.

Here I met a man on a laptop just working away in front of his place. After conversing for several minutes it became apparent that this man lives life in a totally different paradigm from most people that I have interacted with.

He said he works for one or two years at a time and then he goes traveling.

This man said he has no plans of settling down, getting married, and living in one place. For him it was all about variety and seeing the world.

He spent time a year backpacking through South America. He has been to Thailand, the United States, and a whole handful of other countries. For him it was all about the changing environment that he could interact with.

And while some of the life he lives might be far exceeding from my ultimate goals and dreams, the perspective that this man has on life has far enhanced mine.

For me I come to the realization that this is in fact a way to live as well. I might not do everything or see everything in the same way that this man does, but I can have the ability to look at life in this new way and it will improve the choices that I make.

One of two things happens when you have a difference in opinion.

When there is a disagreement or some kind of difference between people, they either have the ability to go further apart or come closer together.

This happens through understanding.

When you have someone that sees the world differently than you the first thing that can happen is that through understanding you will be certain about your perspective of life.

Having this challenge to your view you will reinforce how you see the world and it will become stronger for having gone through the test.

The alternative is that you will be swayed in your stance and you might change your perspective completely.

Neither of these are bad as they can only grow how you experience the world.

Think of it in the way that you would choosing a presidential candidate. One person likes Trump and one likes Hilary. When the two come together in a constructive discussion based on understanding positive things will happen.

Both parties can become even more certain in their own candidate or they will be open to the opposite candidate.

We all don’t have the full experience of the world at every present moment. We view the world through filters and our five senses. This means we have incomplete information and maps of how life is and how we can go about it in the world.

When you get more information, and I have found this to be best done through interacting with more people, then you enhance how you can move through the world.

More often than not, it will far benefit you to have more options and choices for your life. You can do this through finding new perspectives.