Creativity Pathway #104:
Gain Perspective
Erika Jackson
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 You know this person. You know the person, at work or in your
family, who lives under a dark cloud; the one who is victim in every circumstance. Maybe it is you?
Maybe it is you who is feeling like nothing ever goes your way, like circumstances always work
against you. It is sometimes me too.
In January we were blessed with a five-Friday month. For my household, this means one extra paycheck, extra
money that was going to be put to good use. Just as I was planning how to spend our "small fortune,"
I realized that January is also a month that requires an extra mortgage payment. My first reaction
to this realization was to feel sorry for myself, allowing disappointment to rule my thoughts. I
questioned why good fortune didn't come my way.
Amidst my pouting, I realized that I had not appreciated the situation that had been created. When I
looked at the situation differently, I found myself feeling grateful that things had, once again,
worked themselves out. No, we weren't ahead of the game financially, but we did have just what we
needed just when we needed it.
When we get stuck in a perspective (the "woe is me" perspective, for example) it shapes everything
that we see around us. The paradigm becomes our reality and we miss the opportunity to expand, grow
and see beauty. When one feels victim to circumstance, fear steps in and possibility leaves.
Man's Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl's struggle to hold
on to hope during his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps where he endured unspeakable
horror. One of the most inspirational thoughts that comes from his work is this: "Everything can be
taken from a man but...the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set
of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Coaching inquires: Name the perspective, or filter, through which you see the world. What are the
gifts of looking at life through that filter? What are the negative consequences of looking at life
through that filter?
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May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Erika Jackson
(Erika@LifeTrekCoaching.com)
LifeTrek Coaching International
Columbus, OH
U.S.A.
Telephone: 614-565-9953
Fax: 208-977-7793
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