Aloha,

As I sit on a veranda overlooking Kalakaua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii, I try to imagine what Captain Cook and his crew must have perceived before they came to shore. When Cook arrived, the only one that could see the incoming ships on the horizon was the tribe’s seer, or shaman. Since the native people had never seen a ship before, even in their wildest imaginings, their brain had no way of recognizing what it was, and flat couldn't see it. Only when the shaman described what was coming did the people finally see it. Perspective, perspective, perspective! I doubt if Cook, his crew, or the Native Hawaiians had any idea what cascade of changes their invasion would bring to these tropical islands.

In last week's post, I addressed Why Shifting Perspective Matters. This week I offer you 5 Simple Ways to Change Your Perspective and how your perspective makes a difference in everything you do.

Your Perspective Affects Your Actions

If you think it’s too wet and cold outside to go for that daily walk, you may miss out on the opportunity to come back more relaxed and feeling better. That in turn may result in missing out on a good night's sleep. More importantly, you are setting a precedent to adapt a habit of skipping your daily workouts. Before long one day turns into a week and then months go by where you sit on the couch instead of moving your body. We’ve all done it.

But what if you shift your perspective and make that walk a priority. You dig out your rain jacket and you deal with the discomfort of wet feet for a little while. While on your outing, you celebrate the rain that makes everything more vibrant and beautiful. You honor the rain because it is responsible for growing your food! You express gratitude, “I love the rain and want to celebrate by dancing in a puddle… I’m singing in the rain.”You get your workout in, sleep better that night and have the energy to tackle whatever the next day brings.

On a bigger scale, your perspective can lead you to marriage and children, or deciding to live alone. It can influence where you go to school and your job prospects. It can shape your decision of where to move and even how much money you make over the course of a lifetime. And later on in life, your perspective can affect when and where you retire and how enjoyable those golden years become. In short, it’s pretty important stuff and something we all need to pay attention to, that is why I offer you these simple ways to change your perspective.

Simple Ways to Change Your Perspective

Changing your perspective isn’t easy and for many of us, it isn’t something that comes naturally. The good news is that it’s not terribly difficult once you start to recognize that the way you look at the world may not be to your best advantage.

Today, perspective is used much like standpoint or your point of view. Just as standpoint once used to mean simply the physical place where you stand but today also means the way you "see" things as a result of who you are and what you do, the same could be said about perspective.

Here are a few different ways you can start to shift your perspective.

1. Talk With Someone

One of the easiest ways I know to shift my own perspective is to talk to someone who thinks differently about something than I do. We all grow up differently. Find someone from a different background and culture. Talk to them. And here’s the important part. Listen with an open mind. Don’t let your own experiences and the lenses through which you view the world keep you from hearing what they are saying. This isn’t easy. It takes a little practice and most importantly a conscious effort on your part.

Make the time to listen and don’t judge their perspective. Instead, use it as an opportunity to learn about new possibilities and you may just start to shift your own perspective. I’ll give you an example:

A while back, I had a picnic in the park with a client and her two darling children, who were having a blast in the playground. Cindy was wondering what to do next with her business while at the same time, the children needed more of her time and attention. Cindy was a freelance writer for several fashion publications and doing well but struggling to keep up with the demand of motherhood. She hated to admit her work was stifling her creativity. She became disgusted with the fashion industry after I turned her on to The Story of Stuff, a non-profit organization educating people about where things come from and the effect of modern society on people and the planet.

Considering her excellent writing and mothering skills along with a passion for fashion, I suggested writing about sustainable fashion for children. I gave her a few resources and publications she might consider contributing to and encouraged her to pitch Sustainable Fashion for Children to her current clients. Cindy lit up like the Northern Lights. Her perception of having writer's block and not spending enough time with her children vanished. "OMG," she said, "I am going to write only about sustainable fashion for children. My girls LOVE clothes and care about the Earth so they can be part of the clothing for kids and parents who care! I’ll do it all; the photographer, the writer, the designer. and they will help me become a sustainable wardrobe expert. My girls LOVE clothes and care about the Earth! I’m going to learn so much about this clothing line. It’s going to be soooo much fun!"

I am happy to report a shift in perspective changed Cindy's family life and career for the better. She was done with everyone else’s perspective of her and ready for her own.

2. Change Your Surroundings

There’s a reason travel or a change of scenery is good for the soul. It gives us another chance to get out of the rut and experience something new. Unfamiliar surroundings, people, and customs can be a challenge and that’s a good thing. Seeing something new and unfamiliar will help you shift your perspective like nothing else.

You’ve experienced this for yourself. Think back on the last time you took a vacation. No matter what was going on in your life before and what challenges you faced at work, for example, they seemed less of an issue while you were gone. And maybe you came up with the perfect solution to that problem at work while you were sitting by the pool.

Getting away and seeing something new allows our minds to wander and consider new possibilities. Sometimes something as simple as stepping away from your desk or going for a walk can help you shift your perspective and see a new path you couldn’t envision before.

3. Change Up Your Routine

Routines are great. They make our lives easier. They keep us from getting mental fatigue by having to make too many decisions. Think about how much motivation it would take to get out the door without your morning routine?

But … they can also be confining. It’s much easier to keep doing the familiar routine than to try something new. Yet changing up your routine and embracing the challenge of doing something unfamiliar can help you see things in a different light. If that shift in perspective gives you new insights into better ways to accomplish what your routine is doing, go for it. Otherwise, it’s easy to slip back into the familiar routine.

4. Use Visualization Exercises

Last but not least, let’s talk about something athletes and successful people from all walks of life have used for years to break through barriers and do things they thought impossible until they shifted their perspective. I’m talking about visualization exercises.

Athletes use these all the time. They spend time each day imagining reaching the goals they are working towards. A runner will go through the motions of running a race or doing the high jump in vivid detail. They do this again and again until their mind is convinced they can do what they set out to accomplish. The body will then follow suit. It’s an amazing process and something you can tap into as well.

Shifting your perspective involves imagining something you didn’t think was possible or at the very least something you don’t think you could do. Visualization can help you break through this mental barrier. Get comfortable; close your eyes and start to imagine that you CAN do whatever it is you want to do. Be as detailed as possible. Use your imagination. It’s okay if this feels a little two-dimensional at first. That’s okay. Spend a few minutes each day to practice your visualizations and you’ll see progress in no time. This in turn will help you shift your perspective.

5. Believing we can change moves us forward with a can-do perspective.

We can often forget that the most painful times are the most transformative. Throughout our lives, we adapt to change, which comes with both pain and joy. Believing we have control of our destiny helps us make better choices, and gives us a clearer perspective on how we show up to our lives each day. Pain or joy, we have the ability to shift our relationship/perspective on where we stand in almost any situation.

Birthing my child was the most physically painful experience of my life, and yet, the moment I met my son, the pain was forgotten. Something shifted in me that I never could have imagined.

In an instant, my perception of the world changed. My thirty-eight hours of labor ended with a C-section, and when I saw my child’s perfectly shaped head and big blue eyes gazing into mine, I wept with joy. I had no idea I could switch from pain to elation in less than a heartbeat.

I never imagined love like this could come from enduring discomfort and excruciating pain for so long. Our experiences of pleasure and pain reflect polarity throughout our lifetime. My perspective of birth and motherhood changed forever. For the first time, I fully appreciated my mother and believed I would be a good mother like she was, and would accept this privilege with grace.

Now that we’ve gone through various ways to help us shift our perspective, I encourage you to give each of these strategies a try. They will help you get better at shifting your perspective. Keep working at it. It will get easier with practice.

There are plenty of reasons for us all to shift our perspective so we can be part of the SOULutions making the world a better place for all lifekind. In next week's post, we will learn how to make our shift in perspective permanent.

Big Love and Aloha

❤️

You’re Awesome!

🥰 A Dose of Positivity

Join us for a weekly uplifting discussion every Thursday at 1 pm Hawaii time, 4 pm PST, 7 pm EST.

This week, we'll talk about the impact of our dysfunctional food supply chain and its effects on our health and the environment 🙌

Robin Richardson was born and raised in Alaska with family employed at Reeve, Cordova Air, Mark Air, Wien, etc. Travelled extensively while growing up up/down Aleutian Chain, Kodiak, Cordova, as well as overseas marketing Alaska as tour/business destination.

Local economist planted the seed in her mind in 1968 that Alaska’s seafood industry was not directly benefiting Alaska the way it could and/or should. Re-discovered seafood industry in late 80’s while attending fishing conference in Naknek, AK and given walk through by Dan O’Hara, Adelheid Hermann and Harvey Samuelson.

That was it. Her purpose was cast in stone to pursue the supply chain of food and when it intersected it with health and environment, it naturally became her passion.

Robin is the Advocist/Facilitator for Global Food Collaborative (GFC).

GFC is a collaborative of professionals in health and food businesses that are coming together to increase our individual and collective momentum on preventative health and reversal of chronic disease in concert with our natural world. Think of it as an integrated B2B supply chain.

She was the Chief Business Development Officer of Copper River Seafoods and Executive Director of World Trade Center Alaska.

Check out her site: https://www.globalfoodcollaborative.org

Here's the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3OMC0hs

See you soon! 💕

Are you a change maker, thought leader, or health and wellness professional? I would love to interview you in one of our episodes! 🌈

Join our uplifting Facebook Group for A Daily Dose of Positivity. Contribute your positive vibration and receive from others. 💕

Need some Mama Donna love? 🥰

Book a free discovery call ✨

5 Simple Ways To Change Your Perspective