Exercise the Perspective You Need by Karen Sampson

These days it seems like everyone is worried about their money, the economy, or any number of things. What’s wrong is always available for you to focus on and a little perspective may be all you need to stop turning your worries into monsters and start breaking them down into bits you can tackle.

What Perspective Really Means

In order to get real perspective wherever you seek it, the answer is always the same: take a step back. There’s no way to inspect the box you may have found yourself in if you are sitting in a corner inside it. Perspective means looking at your problem in a different way, but it doesn’t take 20 years to have hindsight. It’s funny, but we all need to be reminded of this from time to time. So much focus can lend itself to entrapment, even a few minutes away from whatever is troubling you can shed light on ways to deal with it.

Take a Deep Breath

It sounds cliché’ sure, but researchers have established that your breathing patterns affect your body chemistry. Ever notice how you are breathing when you are worked up about something or something is frustrating you? Chances are you’re breathing shallow ineffective breaths. This not only charges your body with tension but changes your state of mind. Your mind goes on alert and only sees answers in its immediate path. Slow down, take a breath and get away from the problem. While it may not be possible or practical to forget the problem for too long, even a tiny break will help you make the most of future time spent on the project.

Do You Really Need an Excuse to Exercise?

Sometimes perspective can mean talking to other people who have faced the same problem, but in other cases those alternatives simply aren’t available. Take a walk. This simple and relaxing alternative always lets your mind reset itself so that you can come at your problem from a different angle. Do you really need an excuse to exercise? Think of this one as a double duty alternative: you’re increasing your fitness while decreasing your stress load. Both important if problem solving is going to happen on the long term.

Setting Goals and Translating Them

Breaking your problem into a bunch of smaller chunks can be a great way to pick away at it. Is there a portion of your question that you can answer? Then let that tiny tidbit be your guide and break up the rest of what you don’t know. It may be that as a whole the problem seems insurmountable. Think of things in the past that you have already conquered that you felt this way about. Your psychology will play a huge role in how effectively you can deal with any given situation, and if you have a relaxed confident approach you’ll find anything is within your grasp.

The view will be blue as far as your mind’s eye can see.

How do you exercise the perspective you need?