Posts Tagged ‘childhood’
Ruby Shoes, The Looking Glass, and Why Perspective Matters
“Change the way you look at things,
the things you look at change.”
~ Dr. Wayne Dyer
The Cambridge Dictionary describes perspective being, “a particular way of viewing things that depends on one’s experience and personality.” Viewpoint is the inherently subjective foundation determining thoughts and shaping attitudes, beliefs, emotions, decisions, and more. Vantage, an instantaneously shiftable position, offers tremendous possibility birthing dreams.
Are what we say and who we actually are the same? Do we sufficiently and thoroughly question the stories we tell ourselves? How does who think we are inform the cynosure we choose? When and to what degree, for our current state, do we take responsibility?
“We don’t see things as they are;
we see them as we are.”
~ Anaïs Nin
“Life is what you make it,” suggests the observer is also the creator. Events, in themselves, are both factual and have the distinct interpretation they are assigned. The same situation, even when affecting many, depending on each person’s particular inclination, is attributed very specific significance.
Desire and discomfort are often primary motivators prompting deeper self-analysis. Life’s ebbs and flows offer us continuing opportunities reevaluating the meaning we assign circumstances, interactions, people, places, and things. Occurrences, at first, may seem most unfavorable, and then nurture immense compassion, determination, enlightenment, forgiveness, humility, serenity, and more.
“If you nurture your mind, body, and spirit,
your time will expand;
you will gain a new perspective
that will allow you to accomplish much more.”
~ Brian Koslow
Consider a curious child anxiously scampering up a beckoning, sturdy, tall tree. The youth excitedly welcomes adventure certain all will be well. The adult mind immediately identifies how safety is not ensured and determines exploring the tree is unwise. The appropriate approach may be assimilating both assessments and simply, with tremendous awareness, proceed. The conditions are identical, and the only distinction is how pertinent information is processed.
An excellent example is the dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the Asteraceae family. The definition determines the treatment. Landscapers may perceive the lovely sunshine-hued blooms without any aesthetic value and remove them. Naturopaths. beyond celebrating their simple beauty, understand their value and orally and topically apply their immense health benefits.
“To effectively change ourselves,
we first had to change our perceptions.”
~ Stephen R. Covey
Alice of Wonderland, Dorothy of Oz, and numerous fictional characters’ spectacular journeys illustrate how even the slightest reframing influences the entire picture. Alice’s physical alterations automatically inspire new inquiries providing expansive insight. Dorothy’s empowering realizations and renewed gratitude remind us we always have the choice.
Perspective’s fluid, malleable nature invites expansive awareness, honesty, and illumination. The internal state scripts the external world. Our constantly reevaluating what we are absolutely certain is true guides deeper self-exploration opening the body, heart, mind, and spirit. Transformation, the ultimate, power, by slightly and simply adjusting our focus, offers us tremendous growth making us simultaneously student and teacher mastering our destiny.
©2018 Susan Stackpole www.susanstackpole.com
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Susan Stackpole, certified creative consultant and results expert, is the #1 coach helping celebrities, VIPs, and You celebrate your inner superstar and manifest destiny. Ignite your potential, jump-start your success, and achieve quick, effect results while living your dreams. Please visit www.susanstackpole.com for free resources on living your best life. Sign up for the monthly newsletter, which includes celebrity tips on manifesting destiny in style. Contact Susan to map your destiny today.
Just Say Yes
“Cages or wings, which do you prefer? Ask the birds.
Fear or Love, baby? Don’t say the answer.
Actions speak louder than words.”
~ Jonathan Larson – “Louder Than Words” Tick, Tick …Boom! ~
(click here for video)
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“Doesn’t it all go by in a blink?” ~ William Parrish Meet Joe Black
Life is…Strong. Spontaneous. Purposeful. Precious. Loving. Joyful. Fleeting. Fragile. Beautiful.
It seems yesterday I was a gawky, zealous six year old awkwardly scrambling up trees tracing animal shapes in cottony clouds. Seemingly overnight stars transitioned from wishing vehicles to the methodology by which one determines suitable hotels and restaurants. Carefree days became angst-filled teen years, the precursor to identity-shifting adulthood. Decades evaporated in a blink. Confidence became caution. Playfulness became purpose. Dreams became disappointments. Letting go became holding on. Yes became no.
Children are naturally inclined to say and believe in “Yes”. Yes, I can fly. Yes, let’s play. Yes, let’s pretend. Yes, we are friends. Yes, I will be president. An abandoned refrigerator box becomes a spaceship, a clubhouse, an automobile …a dreammobile. Possibilities are everywhere dripping from the vine of life ripe for the picking. Parents and authority figures say, “You can do and be anything you desire.” That is, of course, until we don our superhero cape crafted from the dining table fine linen as we leap from the second-story window onto the trampoline and into the pool believing we are saving the world in a single bound. We grow into adults and become inundated with rules and restrictions “for our own good”. We censor ourselves to please parents and teachers. We edit ourselves to be more acceptable to friends. We abbreviate ourselves for the workplace. We numb ourselves for relationships. We become alternate versions of ourselves confused by own life choices as we wake up one morning wondering how we got here.
Film has a beautiful ability to transport us outside ourselves offering us the opportunity to witness ourselves more clearly as we identify with colorful characters on the screen. “The Boys Are Back”, is an endearing film in which Clive Owen plays Joe Warr, a widower, raising his son alone. Joe vacillates between licking his own wounds and nurturing his son. The movie speaks to the unpredictability of life, the vulnerability of asking for help, and is a sweet reminder that we are all doing the best we can with who we are and what we’ve got. The vastness and infinite capacity of the human heart to Love intermittently weaves tenderness and truth throughout reminding us that life is a dish best served living passionately and wholly. Colorfully scrawled across Joe’s refrigerator a child’s alphabet magnets spell, “Just Say Yes”. The phrase cleverly referenced from a youthful perspective suggests it is the openness of youth that fully embraces the “Yes, Life” philosophy.
“Just Say Yes.”
Yes is …bursting with possibility, exciting, exhilarating, freeing, invigorating, life-altering, rejuvenating and wonderful.
How easily we become engrossed in the busyness of life convincing ourselves it’s really living. Budgets, errands, housework, obligations, and projects occupy thoughts and create an infinite “to do” list. How quickly our feathers ruffle in petty squabbles with family members, friends, and coworkers. How much we ponder inadequate thoughts of “if”, “then”, and “when”. If it works out, then I’ll be happy. I’ll be happy when… How much time we invest in distracting ourselves from really listening to our hearts. How quickly we abandon our dreams for practical choices that later require us to devise some elaborate escape from our self-crafted birdcage. How willingly we mire ourselves in nonsensical things that in the end amount to little more than distractions. How guilty we feel for indulging in life’s pleasures, in savoring moments, convincing ourselves we should be more …more efficient, more organized, more successful, etc.. We sacrifice adventure and whimsy for the “known” because we’ve convinced ourselves change is somehow unnatural or negative. We become hypnotized by fear, holding on to our illusions about self and the world, nervous about change, pruning and miniaturizing our wings like bonsai trees.
How quickly our priorities shift when there is a perceived loss of some sort. The sudden removal of someone or something from our lives seems to open wide a vast chasm for self-introspection into which we either delve deeper for a closer view or recoil abruptly horrified. Loss is a license to drop the veil, to cast away illusions, to allow ourselves to just be. Powerlessness and mortality are met by divinity us staring squarely in the face, asking, “Now what? Now that you know, what will you choose?” We have the opportunity to choose faith or fear. Faith is claiming our desires, professing our blessings, proclaiming our championship with tangible results to appear only after our leap. Fear magnifies the worst-case scenario with all the grit and gore of a scary movie, rooted in the identity-crisis, “who will I be if this happens?” Fear is only no, and faith is always yes.
Every event offers an opportunity – the opportunity to decide the meaning we will attach to it. The meanings we choose formulate our thoughts, which generate feelings that power actions to form habits and become the character that ultimately determines our legacy. I’ve begun thinking about the legacy I am creating every day and what will remain behind when I am no longer in this physical body. I used to choose based on what I’d hoped others would think of me. Lately, I’ve been asking myself what I’d like the movie of my life to be. How am I investing my time, resources and energy? What type of person am I choosing to be? Am I being a blessing in the world? I’ve moved from reacting to responding and recognizing my opportunity to plant Love seeds every day.
It seems that what goes by in the blink of our life is Love. Love usurps the logical and rational. It mystifies and mesmerizes. It is the stuff of epic novels and love songs. Love is fodder for fantasy and miracles.
Love is… the only legacy.
Just Say Yes.
©2010 Susan Stackpole www.susanstackpole.com
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Care to use this article for your e-zine or newsletter? Please include the following
Susan Stackpole, certified creative consultant and results expert, is the #1 coach for celebrities, VIPs, and people serious about getting results and living their best lives. Are you ready to ignite your potential, jump-start your success, and achieve quick, effect results while living your dreams? If so, please visit www.susanstackpole.com where you’ll find free resources for living your best life. While you’re there, sign up for the monthly newsletter, which includes celebrity tips for manifesting destiny in style. Contact Susan today for more information on mapping your destiny.