The Power of Perspective

​I was watching a magic show the other day when I was reminded very viscerally of the power of perspective.   Magic is a metaphor for a problem you can’t (yet) solve.  I felt flummoxed and wowed by the magician’s illusion even though my logical self was looking for the answer and knew it was a trick..   

‘How does he do that?’ I thought.  It was mesmerizing and just a little bit annoying that I didn’t know the ‘how to.’

It had me wondering about what happens when you feel flummoxed in your own life about seemingly unsolvable issues; and how we can quickly get into a siloed mentality.  

When we say to ourselves’ I can’t solve this.’  Maybe we even feel totally helpless, and silo into a victim schema.  It’s a limited perspective.  From one viewpoint.  It’s one dimensional.

Perspective is power

Think of a problem or challenge you have now.  Are you stuck in a silo perspective?  Sometimes friends will point out a perspective of opportunity that we were blind to for years, unable ‘to see the forest for the trees.’

Einstein knew this.  He famously said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same consciousness that created it.” 

We must move instead from a siloed stuckness to solution-seeking, and use our visual/mental/emotional/creative lenses.   In drawing for example, the artist knows to step back and look at the drawing from a distance and from different angles to ensure they are achieving the desired outcome. 

Perspective is everything

Have you had the experience of an old problem suddenly shifting so it doesn’t bother you anymore and the only thing that changed was how you see it?
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Do you see one or 2 faces? How long before you see both? Optical illusions are the perfect example of seeing anew. Having a different perspective is to see clearly. 

Having perspective is akin to grounded awareness—How present and resourced are we?  Unlike  in depression where our vision is dulled and myopic; or anxiety, where our thoughts race to catastrophizing– grounding ourselves into a new perspective, is a medicine, all on its own.  The breath holds such magic , ushering us back toward solution;  back into the body, where our truth lives and sees more clearly.  ​Wisdom lives here. Waiting for our full presence. 
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What to do when you are in a silo mentality? ​

​ After you notice you’re stuck try these steps… 

1. step away and take a breather.   A few in fact.  Slowly exhale. 
2. move your body! back up, look up, look around, physically change your perspective and the scenery.  Go higher or go lower.  I.e. climb a hill or lay on the ground. 
3. Be in nature (as above, a healing walk can do wonders for shifting perspective)
4. Sleep on it
5. Write down the problem before bed and let your subconscious work on it
6. Don’t be shy about asking for help. Ask for guidance, from a friend, mentor, lover, your higher self, your  journalling pages or the universe 
7. Do research 
8. Be willing to open and learn what you don’t yet know.

​I am a huge advocate of journaling to get past stuckness. Journaling creates a reset opportunity.  Journalling is in fact your personal research project.  I’ve done many creative webinars and encouraged journalling for over 30 years with clients. My own journaling experience began more diligently by age 10.  (Naturally,  I have acquired quite the pile of journals over time. ) 

Journalling is a stabilizing force. It changes your perception. Your perspective.

Journalling lends the power of perspective, expands creativity, serves as our  expressive medicine.  There is a  palpable, restorative value of mining your inner world daily.  It declutters and untangles the mind and emotions. 
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(My First Journal at age 10)

​If your inner rebel is going “Ugh, no way”…may I gently suggest to try committing for seven days for 3 minutes.  We will not change if we don’t make new choices and take new actions.  One of the cognitive distortions of depression for example, is that myopic lens that narrows our perspective, which also directly syphons off motivation towards a new possibility as a result.   Whereas Writing allows you to physically ground your inner voice through and out your body to see it. 
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Sometimes we need a pattern interrupt
to create perspective;
to open our lens. ​

Perspective is found here. A new perspective, a higher vantage point past the emotionality and the deceptiveness of hyper-rationality.  A clarity is then birthed. A new life with new light. 

As a supportive offering for expanding YOUR  perspective— 

I’m offering a  free 14 day JOY RESET,  for creative expansion and MINING JOY, starting APRIL 14.  To learn more and Register, click.
The Joy Reset - NORMA HOEPPNER (soulbrush.ca)

A simple practice of cultivating more joy, for a few minutes a day.
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Toward more peace and joy,