My Perspective Shifted Today!

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Comment by wiffledust on February 20, 2012 at 2:19pm

i always like it when i find out that something i became cynical about is not at all the way i was looking at it. in other words, my perspective shifted. i used to like tony robbins, but i honestly felt like he was a money motivated guy who capitalized on the self help movement of the eighties. and, yes, he's made alot of money doing just that. however, i saw his interview with oprah and saw more of what he does in his marathon sessions. and now i feel that he's a man who is not motivated but DRIVEN to help people based on his abusive background. he's determined to help those in need and to help those who need ...a perspective shift. i don't think he is driven by the money. i think he enjoys the money. but i think he's as passionate in his marathon sessions as springsteen is in his marathon concerts. he doesn't talk much about the abuse he suffered, because he doesn't like to go to that head space. but it was bad. ...anyway, i loved seeing him a new way.

Comment by wiffledust on February 19, 2012 at 2:05pm

you'll have fun seeing things from a dog's perspective, maryrose! so happy for you. i think seeing things through an animal's perspective heightens our own lesser used senses. i also think that we focus on the most important "in the moment" things as well as all the love.

Comment by Maryrose Orlans on February 19, 2012 at 1:51pm

Today, and part of yesterday, I went from a person who liked dogs to a "doggie mommy"!  I love animals, but I didn't realize the attachment one develops with such a sweet little creature!!  Truly moved...

Comment by wiffledust on February 19, 2012 at 12:20pm

i'm so glad you posted this, carla! this is similar to an experience i had last week when i was watching an episode of the new bill moyers series. i had been banging my head against the wall at the right wing and at the attitudes you expressed her in your friend. but this expert sociologist on the show got through to me when he explained that the right wing is essential one that believes in rules. rules must be abided in order to avoid chaos for them. for we artist types rules are more like a jail. but those rules don't always mean that people like your friend want to oppress everyone the way we think. it means they simply want rules. and while i don't agree with those rules either, it helped my perspective to understand where they are coming from. like you, i took a step back from feeling like they are fools to understanding how their brain works! that is one reason i am starting this group. we simply can't be creative thinkers if we don't have shifts in perspective! thanks!

Comment by Carla Royal on February 19, 2012 at 11:56am

This is a wonderful idea for group sharing.  Shifting our perspectives can be so difficult!  I am challenged almost daily.  The other day, I was having an intense discussion with an old friend about homosexuality.  I had posted a sweet video of Molly sharing, via signs, her ideas about Christianity, love, and being bi-sexual.  My old friend who is a conservative evangelical Christian came out against the video.  She was concerned about where you draw the line.  If we allow homosexuality then why not sex with children and bestiality.  I was getting frustrated at her lack of understanding...getting really triggered!  As a lesbian, I began to take it a bit personally.  But towards the end of our discussion, I realized that all my friend really wants is some order in the chaos.  She wants some rules.  She doesn't want evil people wandering around.  She doesn't want children and animals abused.  That's where this comes from for her. I realized that her perspective had value.  I realized that all of the great organized religions have brought a certain measure of order to our societies.  I was able to calm down and affirm that in her.  She has a piece of the puzzle.  It is true but partial (as Ken Wilber would say).  I can acknowledge the intent and the true.  I can transcend and include it.  The bottom line: once I was able to take her perspective, I relaxed and even appreciated her in the midst of our disagreement.

Comment by wiffledust on February 19, 2012 at 8:57am

my perspective on Hasidic Judaism changed this weekend when I saw Oprah's interview with a Hasidic family and with a group of Hasidic women in Brooklyn. Even though I live among some Hasidic people, there was alot I didn't know. I honestly felt that alot of their rules about women were due to a severely patriarchal system. But according to these women, this is absolutely not so. They do not feel they need to answer to their husbands about hardly anything. I'm not sure that I don't still think it's patriarchal, but what I see now that I didn't before is that the subservience is to God, not to the husband. I see that the center of the religion is not the synagogue, but the home, and the woman is the ruler of the home. I hadn't seen it that way before. My eyes are opening.....

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