Changing the Lens of Our Perspective

There is a Wendy’s restaurant located less than two blocks from my home. Given the standardization of the fast food industry, I would be willing to bet that my neighborhood Wendy’s is much like the one in your neighborhood. In our Wendy’s when you enter by way of one of the side doors, you come face to face with a picture showing a Wendy’s environment. However, as you continue through the doorway and come closer to the picture, you realize that the picture is actually made up of smaller pictures of Wendy’s employees. The point of the photo is to remind people that Wendy’s is made up of Wendy’s people.

I have always been intrigued by photos of this type. They remind me of jigsaw puzzles. Like a puzzle, what you see is impacted by your proximity. Close up a puzzle is just hundreds of distinct pieces. Moving further back, a puzzle is a picture that is clear in its detail. We have all experienced the challenge of putting together the pieces of an intricate puzzle. Up close it is difficult to know where to put each piece. Some pieces can only be placed after an entire section comes together. Other pieces, like the outer edges can be easily placed as they depend very little on the pieces in the middle. I am told by puzzle enthusiasts that they usually start the completion of a puzzle by framing out the edges. Once the edges are formed then they work piece by piece to put together the whole picture.

As a person over 50 I know a great deal more about the impact of changing your perspective. As I have observed the changes in my own eyesight over these past 10 years, I am very aware of how the subtleties of just changing the point of your nose, or squinting, or moving closer to an object can vastly change what you see. Eight or nine years ago when I got my first pair of bifocals, I realized how much my vision had deteriorated. Now I know for certain that what I see through my glasses and what I see without my glasses are two completely different things. When I am aware of the need to make a shift, I can put on or remove my glasses in order to see what is in front of me. However, this only works when I know that I need to change the lens.

As we approach the day-to-day circumstances of our lives there are many times when we are so close to something that we can’t really see it. The problem is that we don’t recognize that we are not really seeing. Rather, we move forward assuming that we are truly seeing things as they are. Our decisions, reactions, and attitude are all impacted by what we believe we see. To our immediate thinking there is no reason to change lenses. We see the path, and we perceive the situation. Now, based on what we see from up close we move forward. Yet I am reminded of a quote by Stephen Covey. He says that “we see the world not as it is, but we see the world as we are.” We need to change the lens of our perspective.

We have all heard the sage advice we often get when we face a problem or difficult challenge. We are told to take a break, put it aside for a moment, or take a step back. That advice is rooted in the perspective that being too close limits your view. When we step away or step back we see the challenge from a whole new perspective. Solutions that did not appear before become clear from a different perspective. We know that this is a prudent way to deal with challenges. We know that when we are too close that we are not seeing clearly.

What do we do however when we don’t know that we are not seeing clearly? We are all to willing to give way to our fears. We don’t step back from them and try to see them from a different point of view. Our brains automatically focus in on the things we fear and refuse to step back. We play out our fears in vast detail and can only see the calamitous end. We even do this with our hopes. We hope or pray for something to change. We search for clarity. We seek answers to our questions. Yet, when the change comes, or when we achieve clarity we react as though we are not sure. This could not be the answer we seek. Or worse, we are so close to the problem that we do not see that the answer is already right in front of us.

What if we could automatically change the lens of our perspective for each and every challenge we face. What if today’s problem was really the path way to a greater opportunity? What if the challenge you are experiencing is really a blessing, but that blessing has not yet become clear to you? What if after hearing no for the 100th time you knocked on one last door?

Einstein said all major advancement in human kind comes from a break from the common perspective.

“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home”
- Ken Olsen – Founder of Digital Equipment Company

The very fact that you can read this blog reflects that the lens of Ken Olsen’s perspective was cloudy at best. Each decision made by this company however reflected this perspective. Digital is no longer a factor in the computing world.

Most of us in America operate from a perspective of a lack of abundance. We believe that there is never enough to go around. Your success is limiting to my opportunity. Your freedom will limit my advancement. You win, I lose. It is time to change the lens of our perspective. We believe that there is a power in the universe that causes the miraculous to happen. We believe that every day that power will cause the sun to rise, the earth to rotate, and the collection of atoms and cells that are you will continue to stay together. But we don’t trust that power to meet our needs. We believe that changes at work will cause us to lose our jobs and will throw us into financial disaster. But we can’t imagine that a greater power has a better plan for our future. We believe that a miracle happens when someone is cured of cancer, but we don’t expect that a miracle has also happened when we just change our attitude.

We need to change the lens of our perspective. When you see something negative, try to also see the positives. When your mind projects your fears to a point of disaster, try to see the possibilities. When you are so close to the forest that you can’t see the trees, take a step back. When you can only conceive of negative consequences, ask yourself this question “What good things might come of this?”

Take a moment to look at your circumstances with a different lens. See the possibilities. See the potential. See the miracles that are about to happen, and be thankful for those that happened without you noticing.

“Man’s capacities have never been measured. Nor are we to judge of what he can do by precedents, so little has been tried.”
- Henry David Thoreau