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The Dirt

#23 Perspective

Posted by Erin Autio on Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 6:09 pm



Sometimes you need a new perspective.

Now, this has not much to do with gardening other than it’s one of the many things that roll around in my brain as I garden. I have a lot of time to think..

Some days, weeks, years, and even whole lifetimes, we as human beings get stuck in a thought pattern or stuck with a certain view of the world. I think very often we don’t really even realize it.

One ‘negative’ event or comment can create an emotional response that becomes a foundation for our mindset and outlook. We also get stuck due to laziness or comfort.  We do things or act a certain way just because we have always done that or it has worked in the past. Truthfully, it is so much easier to cruise through life on autopilot.

This business of getting stuck can affect the energy we share with the world around us and keep us from learning and experiencing new things and growing in positive ways. It can also make problems seem insurmountable and conflicts impossible to resolve.

Sometimes I can recognize when I am stuck on something. It feels heavy in my soul, like negative energy hanging around and roadblocks everywhere I turn. Life seems difficult, people seem difficult, everything is a struggle. The challenge is how to get un-stuck?

There’s a mid 90’s movie, ‘James and the Giant Peach’ based on the book by Roald Dahl, and near the end one of the characters yells at James in the midst of turmoil “try looking at it another way”. It’s an earthworm with a British accent, it’s awesome, and I have honestly quoted it for years (terrible fake accent included).  I think these are words to live by.

Sit in a different chair, walk a different route, drive a different road to work, strike up a conversation with someone new. Sometimes this is all you need to change the energy you are putting out into the world and witness it come back to you like a boomerang of happiness. Yeah, I said that (#boomerangofhappiness). I believe you’ve got to throw it out there to get it back.

Our perspective is unique to each of us, we all see things a little differently. The beauty of this is that we can ask 100 people and discover 100 different ways to see the world. When we aren’t liking our view it’s time to try looking at it another way!