My current read (after leaving my real current read at the office on Friday)
is Gretchen Rubin's "Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill"
(http://www.amazon.com/Forty-Ways-Look-Winston-Churchill/dp/0812971442).
What I like about this biography is that each chapter looks briefly at the
life of Winston Churchill and views it from a different angle. One chapter
is about Winston Churchill the Hero, another is Winston Churchill the failed
Politician, and Winston Churchill the Leader. Each chapter provides a very
different historical perspective to create a much fuller image of the man,
the myth and the legend.
This made me think about how we might be able to use this technique to
understand the different perspectives of ourselves, the people we interact
with and the situations in our lives. When we look at people or situations
we often see them through only one and maybe two different perspectives and
as often the case, there are many more facets to each which we often miss.
If we took a moment to look at a problem or person through a different lens,
we may find truths we never knew. For example we may find someone who is
very annoying to us. Maybe they are loud and obnoxious and due to our
dealings with them, we just rather not have anything to do with them. If we
look at them through the lens of being a loving and caring person, we may
find things in their behavior which we missed when we see them as annoying.
Look at what they are saying and doing and see how it supports that
viewpoint of being loving and supportive we might find something. Maybe they
always call their spouses every morning at 10 AM, and maybe they always open
the door for others. After finding these supporting details, we can see this
person as less annoying.
The challenge is that we often write off someone or something because of
traits which offend or irritate us and we don't take any further steps to
get to know them better. Some folks or situations just turn us off and we
can't think past that abhorrence.
If we give this a try, we may find useful information and potentially whole
new worlds of information about others and such that we never knew.
Like Brad Barton says in 'Beyond Illusions': "Our perceptions and
interpretations powerfully influence our responses and reactions. All too
often, they create the very thing - the very reality - we fear out of (drum
roll please) absolutely nothing."
Maybe we can start looking at those people and situations in a different
way, and find something we did not know before.
Enjoy!
Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net
http://learnandgrowdaily.com ←-Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"
http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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