Perspectives do matter!!

A young priest asked his bishop, “May I smoke while praying?” The answer was an emphatic “No!”

Later, when he sees an older priest puffing on a cigarette while praying, the younger priest scolded him, “You shouldn’t be smoking while praying! I asked the bishop, and he said I couldn’t do it!”

“That’s odd,” the old priest replied. “I asked the bishop if I could pray while I’m smoking, and he told me that it was okay to pray at any time!”

Well, thats on the lighter side to reinforce the title "PERSPECTIVES DO MATTER". Try approaching problems in the right perspective and there, they are half solved. Obviously different people approach problems from different perspectives. The way one frames the problem profoundly influences the solutions one get. Often, in life, it is not the problem that attacks us, but our perception of them, the colored meanings which we attach to them and the readiness with which we yield to them. Our mind keeps setting traps for us to fall and as naive human beings, we tend to fall. A smarter way would be to carefully come out of those traps. Traps, namely bias, prejudice, negative thoughts, tension, fear, anxiety and so on...

So what do we do? When faced with problems, first acknowledge the fact that a problem has arisen, with a calm frame of mind. It is very important to understand that there is no such thing called a problem free life and problems are only normal. Then, follow these three simple rules:

1. Try multiple perspectives:

   Give atleast some initial thought before jumping to solve the problems. Distort your thinking process and look for different perspectives. The ability to shift perspectives and looking at a problem from different  angles, in itself will reduce the size of the problem and lead to a clearer view. 

2. Make all encompassing and neutral Statements:

   This is to avoid the biases. State the problem in a neutral way, rather in an objective way, combining both the positive and negative perspectives. Acknowledge your feelings and emotions that would be triggered out of the decisions but let them not cloud your decisions. 

3. Detach yourself from it:

   Imagine the situation is happening to someone else and not to you, What would you do? What would you suggest them to get out of that trouble? And yes, there, the solution arrives!