I recently tweeted “Learn to shift position or shift focus to see another perspective. If you do not, life may forcibly do it for you.”

What do I mean by shifting perspective?

Shifting perspective is the deliberate setting aside of how one thinks about a situation and choosing to adopt a new way to view it.

Why should you deliberately shift perspective?

There are a number of reasons:

• your current way of viewing your situation is no longer working for you and you feel trapped by your circumstances which tends to lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair.
• the desire to find a solution that best resolves your current issue as the available options open to you just do not cut it, as you know from the painful, stressful experiences of the past.

You can only find resolution by going through a process of examining your situation and issues from a range of perspectives to fully understand and then eliminate that which does not serve your growth and development.

What happens if you do as you have always done?

If you choose not to consciously shift perspective, life can forcibly do it for you.

Galileo in 1602 discovered a natural law that states that movement in one direction causes an equal movement in another direction like the oscillations of a pendulum. The pendulum swings into action in your life when you stray, consciously or unconsciously, from your intended path – that path that brings you peace, contentment, and fulfilment. It knocks you initially with equal momentum to the other side of the path leaving you feeing unbalanced, out of control and anxious. The pendulum will continue to swing, sometimes wildly, seeking balance and this swinging between perspectives with its attendant feelings of confusion, uncertainty, overwhelm and anxiety, can continue, sometimes for a lifetime.

How do you know it is time to shift perspective?

Life will provide you with opportunities to change perspective and will continue to do so for as long as you are out of alignment with your true path. This is invariably a painful process as you will not often recognise the opportunities for re-alignment and will continue living life with the effects of the swinging pendulum.

What can you do to escape the swinging pendulum?

What can you do if you feel trapped in your life circumstances or feel buffeted continually by them? How can you create a space where you feel more centred and balanced during it all and respond in a more conscious, deliberate way?

What I did

I started my own journey because, although my life contained periods of calm, there was a continual sense of waiting for the next storm, which meant that, even during the calm cycles of my life, I could not enjoy the actual experience of my life. During storms, I had a myriad of excuses for why I made poor choices and why I was not content including the popular dysfunctional family template. 

One day, after many painful collisions with the pendulum, I finally realised that although the people and situations varied from storm to storm, there was only one common denominator – me! It became clear that I needed a shift in perspective and the search for how to do this led me to mindfulness.

How mindfulness became my medicine

Mindfulness helped me to become aware of how I habitually navigated these situations as they were arising; what thoughts were flickering through my mind so speedily that previously I had been unaware of them, what emotions were bubbling just beneath the surface and what bodily responses preceded action. With this awareness, I was more frequently able to shift between perspectives so that I could, in a more holistic fashion, make better, more informed decisions for my future rather than finding myself in the middle of emotional reactions and then wondering how I got there. 

Mindfulness has immeasurably improved how I experience my life and I am rarely out of equilibrium.

Building the mindfulness muscle

Mindfulness is not a magic bullet; it will not slay all your demons in one fell swoop. You will not read a book, listen to a guided meditation, or attend one class and suddenly your life is blooming every day. 

Mindfulness is a practice because, like a muscle, it needs to be worked at to grow, but it in this process of practice, that your experience of your life will transform.

How I can help you

The best way to learn about mindfulness and develop your own practice is to do a mindfulness course with an experienced instructor. Week by week you will train the mind and body so that by the end of it, you will have developed your skill sufficiently to maintain your own practice and to reflect on the benefits that you will experience.

I teach in small groups and I can teach on a one to one basis. I deliver virtually and face to face.

For more information on Mindfulness for Stress and Mindfulness for Health Courses that I run, contact me via https://presentmindinsights.co.uk/or email [email protected].