Maintain Your Perspective

When we come across difficult situations, we tend to over-react and that just makes things worse. The problem is never going to get any better, instead worse. We should stop for a minute and look at the situation from a different perspective, rather be solution-focused and not problem-focused.

I want to share a small story with you that best describes what I mean by maintaining your perspective.

One day, a man with a serious illness was wheeled into a hospital room where another patient was resting on a bed next to the window. As the two became friends, the one next to the window would look out of it and then spend the next few hours describing his roommate the beautiful view of the outside world. Some days he would describe the beauty of the trees in the park across the hospital and on the other days, he would describe to his friend the step-by-step replays of the things people were doing as they walked passed the hospital. However, as time went on, the bedridden man grew frustrated at his inability to see the wonderful things his friend described to him. Eventually, he started to hate him.

 One night, during a particularly bad coughing phase, the patient next to the window stopped breathing. Rather than pressing the button for help, the other man chose to do nothing. The next morning the patient was pronounced dead and was wheeled out of the hospital room. The other man quickly asked the attending nurse that his bed be placed next to the window. When his bed was shifted to a spot near the window and when he looked out of the window, he discovered something that made him shake: the window faced a brick wall. His former roommate had manipulated the beautiful insights with his imagination and kept describing them to him as a loving gesture so as to make the world of his friend a little better. He had acted out of selfless love.

 This story taught me one thing: Always stick to your perspective...no matter what. When we encounter difficult circumstances, we must pause for a while and ask ourselves, “Is there a much better way of looking at this negative situation ?” This will help us calm down and make us realize how grateful we are that this problem is not any bigger than it is now. I always remember my Mother’s words: “God will never give you a problem that you cannot handle.” Problems only make us stronger and act as lessons for us to grow from.

Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest physicists ever, once said that, we live on a minor planet of a very average star located within the outer limits of one of a hundred thousand galaxies. How does that sound for a shift in perspective? Now, given this information, are your troubles really that big? Are the problems or challenges you are facing, really as serious as you made them to be? Think about this for a moment and be grateful for them as there are many other people going through worse problems and challenges than you are.

We are on this planet for a very short time. Our lives are a small tiny dot on the canvas of eternity. Focus on the bigger things in life and live your life the way you want to live it.

God Bless

Vishal D

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