How to Change Your Mindset and Perspective View on Life Problems

Imagine you are in a big city, looking out of a tall building’s window on a downtown area’s edge. Imagine sitting there and just looking at the vehicles moving here and there. They almost appear as toy vehicles, don’t they?  Also, the edifices appear as they could be Lego’s. How hilarious it is that being on an uppermost floor and watching down totally changes the entire city’s perspective!

Then, at the same time, think of walking around an area of downtown being surrounded by tall magnificent buildings. How insignificant and tiny do you appear in front of those mighty and tall buildings!

Here, the interesting thing to realize is that we are visualizing the same city. Then how do they appear different? What is the factor making the same city appear as two totally different locations? The answer is your point of view i.e., your perspective.  In fact, it’s the way you choose to see the world. It’s how you build your opinions and views regarding different things. As a matter of fact, perspective plays a vital role in all of that happens to us, or around us, in our day to day lives.

Possibly you came across an injury or experienced a life-threatening disease in the past year. Perhaps you lost your job or had financial problems earlier. At times of such crisis, one definitely feels helpless and disappointed. Although you can’t go back to the past to fix an old problem, you can change your perspective about it to live a better life.

Believe it or not, changing your perception can make you see problems as opportunities. In case you perceive the problems as if they can crush you, mind it, they definitely will. On the flip side, if you perceive them as you something that is well within your authority to overpower, you certainly will.

This article is going to get you acquainted with the ways to change your perception regarding your past problems to transform your life for the better. Let’s have a look below:

 

Focus on the Learning Instead of the Problem

Sounds easier than done, right? However, it is also true that you have reached so far to embrace the change.

Remember that everyone goes through bad and good experiences throughout his life. However, one must bear in mind that every cloud has a silver lining. Hence, finding that silver lining is what matters here. It surely can be difficult to find the positive in a few of your life experiences, but with an effort and belief in positivity, you can change your perspective to focus on the learning that you extracted out of the experience regardless of how troublesome it apparently was. For evolving, an opportunity is always there. All it asks from you is to take a closer look at it.

Let’s suppose that you were diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder a few months back. On one hand, you could be entirely hopeless and become an absolute emotional wreck for being diagnosed with such a disorder. While on the other hand, you can think of it as an opportunity to find information and see what you can do to manage your medical condition. If you never found out about your disorder, you would probably have let it affect your personal and professional relationships without even knowing. Imagine the storm it would have brought in your personal and professional life if you would have been oblivious of your medical condition. But now, you can seek help, you can read books for self-help, you can find information on the internet, you are on the right track to solve the problem once and for all. That is the power of changing your perspective regarding a problem.

However, don’t expect yourself to change the perspective overnight. It is a process that takes time and effort for it to be sustainable in the long run.

In other words, your reality is as per your perception. Thus, it is true, that by changing this perception changing your reality is possible (William Constantine).

 

 

Change Your Routines

Changing your perspective is a matter of your subconscious. Which is why you’d be amazed to know how little things can eventually end up bringing a huge change in your perception of things. As per psychology, something as little as changing your path or doing a thing that you do every day a little different than how you do it usually is a healthy way for enabling you to slowly change your perspective towards things in general.

For instance, if you go to the shopping mall every evening via the same route, surprise yourself with a change of route. Take an alternative route for a few days. If you take your morning walk in the same street every day in the same direction, alter the street, the park, the route on which you take your morning walk. By keeping your destination or purpose the same while changing the route that leads to it, you sensitize your mind and open its horizons to see a different perspective for your old problems as well.

 

Be Thankful

Creating an in-built capacity in yourself to be more thankful is another way of changing your perspective towards your problems. Such a claim is also supported by psychology in a study that was conducted in University Pennsylvania back in the year 2005. Changing your perspective is a matter of whether or not you can find something good to be thankful for out of your sufferings. For instance, your father is making you move because his company has transferred him to a different city. Instead of focusing on losing your current friends and the city that you love, be thankful that life is giving you an opportunity to explore a whole another city, make new friends, get accustomed to different cultures, etc. Remind yourself that if you were supposed to stay in one place throughout your life, you would have roots instead of feet. Tell yourself how these vibrant experiences are going to help shape your personality for the better.

By being thankful for the little things in your life, you can sensitize your brain into finding something to be thankful for through the moments of sufferings as well. This is an effective and applicable way of changing your perspective towards your problems.

 

Befriend Honest Open Minded People

As mentioned earlier, it is not always convenient for everyone to change their perspective all by themselves. Sometimes, we all need a little push in the right direction. And that’s where your company comes into play. The kind of people that you hang out with and spend the most time with will determine whether or not you will be able to change your perspective regarding your old problems. If you have troubling thoughts which pop up in your mind from time to time, it should be a priority for you to befriend positive people who can help you look at your problems in a different fashion. Perhaps they can bring your attention to the learning that you are getting out of the experience. Maybe they can highlight the silver lining in the situation that you should be thankful for. There is no need for embarrassment or guilt in seeking help from other people. Provided that you have chosen the right people, the genuine people who you can call friends, they’d be honored to help you out through a tough time.

 

Get an Adequate Rest and Sleep

There is no argument over the fact that a major reason why your old problems are still haunting you is that you keep overthinking about them. It is because your mind has gotten out of your control and you can’t stop it from bringing the old problems back to the foreground over and again. Under such circumstances, rather than focusing on the problem, focusing on the root cause is a much better option to change your perspective regarding them. What is needed of you is to devise a strategy that can help you stop overthinking about the problems in the first place and the change of perspective will automatically follow.

As such, ensuring that you are getting an adequate amount of sleep every day is a tried and tested method that works. An overworked brain that is not getting the required amount of period to rest is likely to function differently than normal which includes overthinking about the old problems. There are various tips and tricks which you can use to ensure a calm and peaceful sleep throughout the night. For instance, reading a book before going to bed works for some people. For others, the ancient practices of meditation and mindfulness work like a charm since they remove the unnecessary thoughts from your mind, bring you back to the here and now, promote mental clarity, and stimulate a feeling of calmness and relaxation that goes a long way in inducing a sound sleep for the night.

Once you start to get adequate sleep every night, you will slowly start to see your perspective changing towards your old problems until they eventually fade away from your thoughts entirely.

 

Indulge in Regular Physical Activity

Distracting your mind and replacing your thoughts with something positive can help a great deal in removing negativity and changing your perspective towards your old problems. As such, physical activity is one of the finest options which can serve the purpose. The reason why you should choose a physical activity on a regular basis is multifold. The physical excursion has been associated with the release of happy hormones in the human body which are impeccable in addressing the higher stress levels causing anxiety, depression, and overthinking, all of which have a role to play in determining your perspective regarding your old problems. By making you fundamentally happier with the release of hormones like adrenaline, serotonin, endorphins, etc. physical exercise can help change your perspective for the better. So if you haven’t already, it is time for you to hit the gym and start working out.

An added benefit of working out would be the health benefits that you’d be able to relish along with toning your body and improving your overall appearance that has been linked with one’s self-esteem and self-confidence as per psychology. Better self-esteem and confidence surely prepares you better to face your problems and fix them once and for all.

 

Conclusion:  

Changing your perspective regarding old problems allows you to see the brighter side of life. By instilling positive energy, it further fills you with happiness and an overall positive outlook towards the whole world.  When you start seeing things from a different point of view, life becomes beautiful and all the negativities slowly start to vanish.

With this respect, you need to turn them upside down, eradicate pessimism from your life and make optimist friends. Also, seeking happiness in every moment and being grateful for the little things you have in your life is too effective. Over and above all, realize that what has happened in the past has now become the past. Luckily, you are living in your present, where you can control situations, your mood and your health be it physical or mental. Remind yourself that your past experience, regardless of how bad they would have been, has played a crucial role in making you this strong, bold, and confident individual that you are today. Your impressive personality is an outcome of everything that you have gone through in your life.

We sincerely hope that the tips mentioned above are going to help in pulling you out of the ditch where you are surrounded by your past problems. You’d be able to change your perspective and let them go for good this time. Whatever happened, happened. It is time for you to start living your best life from now on.