Perspective

This morning I was playing my favorite word game. I was stuck on a word and kept going back to the same combination of letters. I kept trying to spell the words I’d already used. In other words, I kept creating the same results by using the same patterns. I finally scrambled the letters after trying and trying. Problem solved! As soon as the letters were in a different combination, I saw the word that would finish the puzzle!

We do this in life too. We try to solve problems, look for solutions, create new opportunites, and communicate by using the same methods we’ve always used. And they work until they don’t work anymore. Or the problem is fixed temporarily and we end up back where we started, only to try the same method again and again that reaps the same unsatisifying results.

I had a client recently who was struggling to communicate with her children. She was telling me everything she had tried, from scolding to praising. I asked her what she hadn’t tried yet? She decided to change her perspective and see things through the eyes of her children and she came up with new ideas of how to work with them to build better results.

Another client was stuck on creating a better idea for a project at work. He had an idea but was continuously getting stuck at the same spot. I asked him what would be something he could try to get unstuck? We started listing ideas and then one idea jumped out at him. As silly as it may sound, it worked for him! He sat in a different chair at the table! New perspective!

As you move into the holiday season, what’s one thing you can do to change a perspective of what’s not working? Maybe you want to let go of a past hurt from someone you will see this season. Maybe you want to strengthen your relationships or build new ones. There is a solution if you look for it. There is a perspective you hadn’t thought of up until now.

Sometimes scrambling the letters shows you the answers.

Happy Holiday Season Everyone!