Your Perspective Can Change Unexpectedly
That can alter how you perceive life, the Universe, and everything.
I have never in my life lived in the same place for more than 10 years.
The same general area? Sure, more-or-less. But the same home? Never. Thinking back, in fact, I am pretty sure 9 years is the longest I ever lived in a single house.
My wife lived in the same house for some 30 years or so. She has vivid, fond memories of her family home. Frequently, when she dreams, she returns to that home in her mind.
Growing up, I recall 4 bedrooms I called my own. Even they changed for various reasons.
For a long time, I have had a little bit of jealousy over that nostalgia. Having lived a semi-nomadic life over the years, and not having that long-time childhood home in my memory felt like I was missing something.
Even as an adult, this continues to be how I live. A part of me has felt a sadness that I lack the roots and memories an almost life-long home has given to my wife and other friends.
Viewing experience from another angle
Today, I gained an alternative perspective to this notion I had never considered.
Some six months ago a very elderly couple moved into the apartment below ours. I haven’t a clue how old they are. Based on the full-time caregivers that also live there, and how they do not go anywhere without them, I am guessing they are probably in their 80s or so.
As I was sitting on my deck to meditate this afternoon, they were below on their deck. The caretakers -and I believe a daughter – were holding a conversation with them.
While I could only hear a muttering voice from the elderly woman, I heard the daughter more than once say, “You want to go home? But you are home. This is home.”
It broke my heart to think about having lived somewhere for a long time – only to be unable to still live there.
But that opened my eyes to a different perspective. This is not something that I am likely to encounter – because I haven’t a single home in my memory.
My wife always refers to that childhood home as home. She still has a longing for it. I do not share such a longing because I haven’t the same reference of experience.
While I have felt some jealousy and sadness that I do not have the long-time home of memory – now I can see that it could be, in fact, advantageous.
Reality is based on your perspective
There are many things that we accept as “reality.” The sky is blue; the grass is green; there are invisible borders between cities, states, counties, nations; a red light means stop; and so on.
Yet even in that acceptance of reality, there are going to be variations. How you perceive the color red may not be the same as how I perceive it. Those invisible borders might be of more importance and meaning to you than they are to me.
As Albert Einstein said,
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
The aspects of reality we all share differ. The collective consciousness may offer a certain perspective, but that doesn’t mean it’s the one and only perspective there is.
This is why how you perceive life, the Universe, and everything can change unexpectedly. When a truth you hold to be self-evident suddenly becomes less truthful – or outright untrue – your perspective can be shifted.
Hence why the path you may have desired to walk in your 20s is likely not the path of your 40s. If it is, odds are, aspects of it are not what they were before.
Change is the only constant
Just because you know something doesn’t mean it won’t change.
Back to Einstein. According to his Theory of Special Relativity, a normal object can’t travel at or beyond the speed of light.
However, I believe that it IS possible – we just do not understand how, yet. There are notions of science fiction that could prove to have truth to them (there are some present theories on creating “warp drives,” for instance). Hell, we broke the sound barrier – why not the light barrier?
Greater minds than mine will work this out eventually, I suspect.
Nonetheless, change happens. What you think is true today may not be tomorrow.
Another example: before Copernicus, people believed the Earth was the center of the solar system. When it was proven that it was not, the collective consciousness was changed.
Speaking of Star Trek, the communicators of the original series and datapads of Next Generation were really cool high-tech gear, right? Nowadays, they exist for real – and even better than their sci-fi original notions.
Big or small, change will happen. It is the only true constant in the Universe. Hence why your individual perspective of the Universe can be easily and unexpectedly changed with relative ease and suddenness.
What do you do with a perspective change?
When you are faced with change, there are multiple ways to handle it. But overall, in my experience, it breaks down to these choices:
- Go with it. Change happens, roll with it.
- Resist it. Hold onto what WAS and fight the change.
- Fight it. When it is not a good change, stand up for an alternative.
- Alter it. Change can be changed.
- Redirect it. Take ahold of the change and do what you can to ride it or shift it.
- Ignore it. I mean, sure, you can do this – but depending on what it is, you will probably wind up fighting or resisting it down the line.
I know there are other options. Each change is different – material or immaterial, big or small, the impact and effects of change are wildly variable.
Whatever change is happening, you have a choice for what to do. When you practice mindfulness and work with conscious reality creation, you gain the ability through being conscious and present to better work with change. Mindfulness is how you get any control of it at all.
Remember that you are empowered to make your life how you desire it to be.
Perspective can change unexpectedly, and that can alter how you perceive life, the Universe, and everything. But when you practice mindfulness, you gain awareness in the now of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. With that, you can gain some control over how your reality is changed.
How do you handle unexpected changes in your perspective?
This is the four-hundred and forty-fifth journey into my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are ideas for – and my personal experiences with – mindfulness and walking along the path of life to consciously create reality. I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. I further desire to empower myself and my readers with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is availablehere. My additional writing, both fiction and non-fiction, are available here.
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