A Matter of Perspective

In a training I used to run, I gave participants a scenario about a young woman who'd had her kids taken away by the state.  I asked trainees to read the description of this woman, then get into two groups to discuss the situation.  One of the groups was charged with making a list of the mother's strengths, while the other was responsible for listing her weaknesses.  When the trainees were done, we came back together as a large group to compare the lists.

Every time I led this activity, the result was the same.  As I documented the groups' examples of the woman's strengths and weaknesses, group members soon realized the intention of the exercise, and hands shot into the air.  "The lists are basically the same," a trainee would inform us.  "Everything on the weaknesses lists is also on the strengths list.  They're just worded differently."  It was true.  The weakness "Mom's only been clean for 2 weeks" became a strength with the wording "Mom's managed to stay clean for 2 weeks."  "She didn't go to college" turned into "She successfully earned her high school diploma."  Same facts.  Different perspective.  Strengths became weaknesses and vice versa depending on the viewer's chosen lens.

I do realize this isn't a new idea, and that most folks know that our chosen perspective defines our experience.  If we choose to see things in a positive light, we do.  If we choose to see everything through a lens covered in crap, then everything looks crappy.  One man's beautiful ocean is another man's toilet bowl.  To a great extent, our world doesn't define us.  We define our world.

Presently, for instance, a 65-pound dog is strewn across my lap, making it very difficult to type.  I could be thinking: 

A.  This dog is crushing me
or... 
B.  The way he's making me type, my arms are falling asleep
thus concluding that...
C.  This sucks.
 
But instead I'm thinking: 

A.  Wow, my lap is really warm
and...
B.  This dog is ridiculously adorable
therefore...
C.  This rocks.
 
These days, my favorite example of perspective-choosing is FTW (Fuck the World) vs. FTW (For the Win).  I'm getting ready to move across the county in a few months, and as I wander around rainy Portland, contemplating the fact that my little family will soon be without income, housing, insurance, or any other traditionally stabilizing factors, I find myself thinking: FTW?  

Or...FTW!

Hooray!  The blue dog with glasses is the winner!

I think I'll go with the latter.  It's sure to be more motivating, and less likely to drive me to drink.

Surprisingly, in writing this post, the internet totally supported my perspective-shifting efforts.  When I did a Google Images search for "FTW fuck the world," this is one of the images that came up:

There was absolutely no explanation for it, either.  The caption was simply:  "The cutest dog in the world."  It's as if the internet was saying, "Aw, why are you searching for that?  You clearly need to see a picture of a poof ball puppy." 

And the internet was right.  Thanks for the puppy, Al Gore...or whoever's in charge of this thing these days.