Episode #53: Gaining Perspective Improves Attitude & Gratitude

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How can we gain a more enlightened perspective?
Have a better attitude towards any and all situations?
Feel more grateful and less entitled?
6 Different Strategies
It’s simple; we make an effort to consistently grow and expand our perspective by learning and exposing ourselves to new experiences, people, places and knowledge.
This allows us to feel more positive, optimistic and grateful.
Today I share at least 6 different strategies on how to start practicing this in your daily life.
It’s so easy to lose perspective and get caught up in self-pity or victimhood when we live in a bubble and have limited exposure to the world around us.
If you Google “perspective quotes”, you will be amazed by the different words of wisdom that surround this idea – and it’s just a way of thinking. It’s a point of view, an outlook, your stance, your frame of mind.
There are people who have a narrow perspective, where you can sense their negativity when you meet them. Woe is me, full of self-pity – you know the type. Then we meet those with great, open-wide perspectives and you can feel their positivity and their attitude and you can just tell they’ve learned a lot.
People with open perspectives have really grown. They understand the world.It’s so important that we continually work on opening our perspectives in life because it can lead to so much growth, happiness, gratitude, and overall joy.
There’s a lot of things going on in your life. It can become easy to allow the stress and struggles of life to wear on us, to wear us down. We want to avoid that, and here in the Sexy Confident Life brand – the podcast, the products that I’ve created, and the things that I’m promoting and teaching is all geared to help us live a more joyful and positive, confident, courageous, ongoing personal development in our lives. Then, we can go out there and live our best life.
We only have one life, so we need to take it seriously and ask ourselves the right questions.
“How am I going to experience my life?”
Are you going to experience ti with shutters over your eyes, being self-centered and not thinking about anything else that is happening in the world? Are you going to close the door to learning more about the world, or different people, clutlures, places, and situations? Am I going to let my attitude be limited by my closed perspective?
Of course not!
I have to constantly remind myself to gain perspective. It’s easy to lose perspective.
But it’s also easy to get back our perspective.
I always give myself a pep talk: Anna, let’s gain a little perspective here. Why are you being such a brat? Why are you feeling so sorry for yourself? Why are you getting so frustrated? Why are you down and negative? Why are you stressed? We all have these feelings from time to time, right?
Think about how often you have those emotions. It’s one thing to have the emotions – which is totally normal and fine – but it’s another thing to stay there in that self-pity, playing the victim.
For instance, on vacation, we were in Tuscany, the Chianti region of Italy. My husband and friends were enjoying the most delicious wines. I LOVE my wine. I love to taste and smell new wines, learn about where they come from and learn about the differences.
But, I couldn’t do that this time. I took a couple sips, just to try a few different new wines, but it’s not the same as having a glass of Chianti. But I knew I couldn’t enjoy it the way I wanted to.
I got a little down. After a couple days in Tuscany, I just thought to myself, Man, this sucks. I’m here in Italy and I can’t really enjoy the wine, and this trip is stupid. Why did I come to Italy?
Right then, I caught myself. What is my problem? I am blessed to be carrying my first child. I am gifted and blessed to be in this country with people I love, to experience this adventure, and I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I can’t have more wine.
Stupid, right?
I had lost perspective of the bigger situation. I had lost perspective of all the gifts and blessings that were surrounding me. It’s easy because we want what we want. But, we have to remember to catch ourselves in these situations. We need to make sure to not let ourselves get sucked into the self-pity victimhood, when really if we look at the bigger picture, we have so much to be grateful for – so much to appreciate in our lives.
Why are kids so prone to being picky, entitled, or even depressed to the point of committing suicide in today’s age? Because they lack perspective. If they’re being bullied, and they’ve never been bullied before, they may not understand it. They may not understand the feelings they’re feeling. They’re young. They lack the experiences, the knowledge, the understanding of the bigger picture of life, how much life they have to live, and how amazing they are. They lack knowing how they can get through it.
But, it’s not their fault.
They are young, and we have to understand the more we can teach them, the more we can expose them to the realities of life and other cultures, people, situations. We need to educate them. The more wise they become, the better off they’ll be.
When I was a young girl…
I grew up with a single mom. My dad wasn’t around much and we were living poor. It was frustrating. God, why me?Why is this my life? How is this fair? I was depressed. I would journal about it, I would cry about it. I’d feel ashamed and I was embarrassed. I felt all the things that a teenager is going to feel when she’s not aware of the world around her – when she’s unaware of all the other people that have it much worse. As I grew older and started to understand the world, started meeting new people and hearing their stories, started to read about history… I realized my situation wasn’t so bad.
I had a loving mother who wasn’t a drug addict and wasn’t abusive. She worked hard. She took care of us. We had all our necessities; We weren’t starving or cold. We weren’t homeless.
There was so much to be grateful for, but I couldn’t see that as a kid.
I could only see what those around me had – and what I didn’t have.
I think that relates in so many ways to how we are as adults. As we’re growing and learning, if we don’t get out of our own bubble, out of our own circle of friends and family, we’re not going to learn and grown beyond that. We’re only going to see what’s closest to us. We’re only going to be exposed to what we choose to expose ourselves to.
And if we’re not happy in our situation, it’s going to limit our perspective.
Maybe we’re not happy because we’re comparing ourselves tot he Jones’ next door. Or maybe you’re trying to build a business and you’re comparing your start up to one of the biggest influencers in the market. If I compared myself to Brendon Burchard, I’d be a little intimidated. But, I look at everybody else who’s trying to grow and be a positive influence in the world, and I say Anna, you’re doing pretty good. You’re working really hard.
I have to remember to appreciate things. I open my eyes to the world, and I read emails and messages from people who have gained benefits and improve their lives – all because of my words.
Comparison can be a killer.
What would you say is your perspective at this time in your life?
If you were to rate your perspective on a daily average basis, on a scale from 1 to 10, where would you fall?
Are you a “1” where your perspective is very narrow, you tend to think negatively or pessimistically? Or are you a “10” where you’re very enlightened? You can see a situation beyond what it looks like right then and there, but you consider other factors that come into play, other things to be grateful for.
I want you to take a bit of time to think about where you fall on the scale and what we can do to gain more perspective and have a better attitude and feel more gratitude.
How you look at things is a reflection of what you’re learning, who you’re surrounded by, the history that you know, the people that you’ve met, the places you visited…
I truly want to live without feeling negative, ungrateful, or depressed, and there are things that I constantly try to add into my life in order to gain more perspective.
Start thinking about everything you can be grateful for.
Look at things in a different light. If one of the things you’re dealing with is sadness or not feeling good about yourself, it can be so difficult to change the way you feel if your perspective is still limited by your current situation or surroundings. But look at the bigger picture. You’re reading this blog, which means you have a computer or an iPhone. There’s so many people who don’t have computers or iPhones. There you go – perspective.
What are some of the tangible things that you can start doing today that can help open your perspective?
Get your gratitude journal out.
Start writing in it every day. What do you have to be grateful for? Write it down.
I am grateful every day when I wake up pain-free with my back not achy. I got a good night’s sleep. So, when I wake up, I’m grateful for the day.
Get out in nature.
Whether it’s a hike, or a walk, or to garden… you’re surrounded by nature, you get to see the beauty of the Earth. You get to see the beauty of the world and it’s hard to really appreciate a lot of different things, but it’s really hard to not appreciate nature. Nature has a way of getting you back to simplicity.
Read More.
Watch less reality TV, less drama. Read more – educate yourself. Sink your teeth into more knowledge and empowerment instead of all the drama that can suck you in if you let it.
Visit new places.
Exposing ourselves to new cultures can be amazing for gaining new perspective. You don’t have to visit a different country, just go to a different town! There are so many people who never leave their own town! When is the last time you drove to another town just to get away? See a different place. Meet some different people. Be exposed to a different energy, a different vibe, and a different view. It’s powerful for your life and your attitude.
Volunteer.
Doing volunteer work is an incredible way to gain perspective. If you’re feeling down or depressed or don’t feel grateful for the things you have, go volunteer. Be around those who are less fortunate than you. Help them. Listen to them. See where they’re coming from. Open your eyes and get out of your own bubble. It get’s you out of victimhood and back to all the blessings you do have.
Meet new people.
Join new groups. Maybe you’re annoyed with your own family. Visit another family and see how they do things. You’ll get to see them go through their struggles and craziness and it’s going to help you become more grateful and appreciative of your own family. It gives you a new perspective – you’re not the only one! You’re not the only one with a crazy family, right?
These are things you can start doing today to help you gain perspective. And don’t stop with today, keep going! That is what is going to make you your best because your attitude truly does change when you open up your perspective, and you become more grateful with what you have.
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