Problems are not always found in what happens to us. Sometimes they are found in the perspective from which we look at what happens.
Circumstances are events. Perspective is the meaning we give those events.
The same situation can produce completely different experiences for different people. One person sees rejection; another sees redirection. One sees failure; another sees a lesson. One sees an ending; another sees an opportunity for a new beginning.
This does not mean that difficult circumstances aren’t real. Pain is real. Betrayal is real. Loss is real. Disappointment is real. Changing our perspective does not mean pretending that something didn’t hurt.
It means changing our relationship with what happened.
Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?”, perhaps we can begin asking, “What is this experience here to teach me?”
What can I learn from this?
What is within my control?
What am I making this mean about myself?
Is there another way of seeing this?
What is this experience asking me to change, accept, release, or become?
These questions move us from victimhood toward responsibility.
We may not always be able to choose our circumstances, but we can learn to choose our response to them.
And sometimes, changing the way we see the circumstance changes the circumstance itself—not because the external event has changed, but because we have changed the way we experience it.
