There’s No Skating By Perspective

Last updated on February 6, 2017

Point of View

Here’s the thing, my point of view is just that, mine. And yours is yours. There is power in what each of us sees, feels, understands, or gains from any circumstance or situation. It is perspective which drives cynicism or belief, joy or pain, worth or lack of value. It is perspective which drives decisions and creates opinions.

The ultimate power of perspective is that it can be changed, it can be altered. I never used to think this – why? Because I was so opinionated that every corner of my so-called open-mind was closed. I refused to see the room for growth – that I could shift, that a challenge to my viewpoint might be good for me.

Power

The individual who listens, learns, and implements what he learns is the one who has the power. Stephen Covey said, “To change ourselves effectively, we first have to change our perceptions.” The stubborn, all-knowing individual loses power by denying his ability to see things differently, or hear an alternative side to a story, or gain a new understanding. I freely admit that I can be stubborn. I also can happily attest that my self-described stubborn nature is also a wonderful survival tool.

I can also happily admit today that my desire to grow and change, to love and be loved, to help and be helped has overcome my stubborn nature on many occasions over the last several years. This has allowed me to achieve and receive all the above: knowledge, love, assistance.

Does Truth Change?

I soooo loved to roller skate when I was young. Nothing made me happier than doing twirls and skating backward on my driveway. I truly dreamed of being a professional roller skater, of having a cute skirt that flared and flowed as I twirled and turned. This was my truth, my future. It was utter happiness for an 8-year old girl. I failed to realize that the “real” sport was ice skating – there was no olympic gold medal for roller skating.

Update: A few years back, I was cast in a stage production, a musical which required me to roller skate, in front of an audience. I was so excited to strap on a pair of skates and show my stuff. I was bubbling over when I bought new skates; I could hardly wait. Good Lord. Out of practice 40+ year olds should not even try to twirl on skates. Luckily, I only crashed a couple times backstage – and never on stage or during a show. Sadly, I must admit that the nirvana of my youth was no longer found in a pair of roller skates.

It is all about perspective and the changing of it. Perspective and opinion are formed by knowledge and experience. Wisdom.

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, a well-known idiom, exists for a reason: perspective.

Opportunity for change is real opportunity.

Knowledge is Power

Why limit one’s amount of knowledge by a declaration of “I know all I need to know” or believing only what you have always believed? Isn’t this why schools and institutions of higher learning exist? Isn’t this why Google exists? Why book clubs were founded and communities (online or not) created? – the expansion of the mind or one’s beliefs or practices. Seeds of learning. Flowers of potential. Growth and movement forward. Always forward, onward or upward.

This personal power we each hold is very real – opinion or perspective – and it cannot simply be turned up like a volume control button. It can only increase or change by opening a door, and another, and another. The turning of the knob is up to you and only you. What happens if you never turn that knob?

Understanding Chaos

I learned many years ago that chaos isn’t really chaos once it is understood. Perhaps learning individuals are just in a consistent state of chaos – looking for rule or order, searching for cosmos.

And until then, until that day when I actually find cosmos, I’ll thrive in the chaos by increasing my own super human power – my power of perspective.

It won’t be in roller skates.