Change perspective, and the world changes......

 

As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by kaleidoscopes.

A kaleidoscope, is a cylinder, containing a few mirrors and loose, coloured bits of beads, glass, pebbles, etc.  and when held up towards the light while looking through a peephole, using a simple twisting motion, can display an endless amount of new and exciting images. (By chance I came across a kaleidoscope that was only 3 cm's long, yet, through the very tiny(!) peephole amazing images were displayed)

One night, it dawned on me that perhaps a kaleidoscope could be used as a metaphor.

(metaphor = "a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance" Dictionary.com)

Change perspective (=a twist on the kaleidoscope) and a new image appears. Same "bits", just configured differently.

For many of us, changing perspective can be challenging. Changing perspective can perhaps be likened to "changing the window through which you view the world."

Before attempting to change perspectives, it may be helpful to consider the sources of your perspectives. What, or who, or both, influence your perspective? Your family, media, your work place, friends, etc.? Does the thought of changing and or broadening your perspectives make you feel insecure, unsettled, challenged, or does it make you feel stimulated?

Change, for many of us, can be scary, unsettling and very challenging, and broadening our perspectives, for many of us can be experienced as inviting more uncertainty.

Uncertainty, considered by many as the "bane of humanity" can also be viewed: "Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow." (Tony Schwartz)

One way that can assist us in broadening our perspectives, is to ask different questions to those we may usually ask: instead of "why me?", ask "why not me?", instead of "there's only one way to see it" ask "are there other ways to see this?", instead of "It's black or it's white" ask "how many different kinds of grey are there?", instead of "it's either wrong or it's right", ask "is it possible that it's neither wrong nor right, rather, that it depends on the perspective taken?"

One person looks at the moon and sees wonder, another sees the natural satellite of earth, one person looks at Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and sees indescribable beauty, another sees pigments on a canvas, one person looks at a baby and sees innocence and joy, another sees sleepless nights and mountains of diapers, one person looks at bird in flight and sees elegance, another sees bird poop on the new car that destroys the lacquer, one person looks at a gateaux and sees a delicious cake, another sees calories and weight gain, and so on..    Neither view is incorrect.....just a matter of perspective.

Sometimes entertaining a different perspective of a situation can change a problem into an opportunity, an enemy into a potential friend, a difficult experience into a learning experience, a hard learned lesson into a broadening understanding of compassion, and so on.

"The only thing you sometimes have control over, is perspective. You don't have control over your situation, but you have a choice of how you view it." (Chris Pine)

Change your perspective, and the world changes.

"Everything we hear, is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (Marcus Aurelius)

 

A kaleidoscope uses the same "bits", but each twist, produces a completely new, and fresh vision.

If you have never used a kaleidoscope, let me encourage you to find one and have a look.

(Most toy stores sell them for a few coins)