The freedom to choose our perspective

Have you woken up from sleep and, for a moment, just before you are fully awake, feel as if you have woken up to a normal day? Then you realize it’s life in the Time of COVID-19 and you wish it were all a bad dream. As Frodo in Lord of the Rings said to Gandalf:

 “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

How do we decide what to do and how to be in the time that is given us?

For the foreseeable future, we will all be living a different life than the one we had hoped for. Given this, can we choose our attitude or perspective on what’s happening? The answer is yes, but it’s not always so easy, especially if we feel stuck in a certain mind state. If you’re having trouble getting unstuck from a mind state that’s not serving you, it can be helpful to play a game of trying on different lenses or perspectives on the situation. When we approach this in a playful way, positive emotions are aroused, we become more creative, and this can lead to improved decision making.

Let’s play:

Imagine we’re seeing the current pandemic from the perspective of disruption. In this case, disruption feels unsettling, uncertain, and associated with a loss of control. Mostly unpleasant feelings.

Now, let’s try on some other lenses through which to see the pandemic:

One lens could be a Spring day. The associations we may have with Spring are new life, a fresh start, warmth, cherry blossoms, fresh green colors.

Another lens could be a herd of elephants. Elephants may bring to mind wisdom, social bonding, caring for all members, and strength.

Another lens could be a good novel: absorbing, compelling, strange characters, relaxing, a gift.

We can “try on” these lenses as if we were trying on different pairs of eye glasses. Through which one would we prefer to view the pandemic? Some might prefer the lens of the fresh start and warmth of a Spring day. Another might prefer the view through the lens of the wisdom and strength of an elephant. By playing this game, we get out of our one view, try on others, and choose the one we resonate with the most.

After the most resonant choice is made, we then brainstorm what we need to DO and who we need to BE to make this choice come alive. If we choose the elephant view, we may decide that we will be strong, be caring towards everyone in our “herd”, maintain our social connections virtually or by phone, and be the wise matriarch. We will say No to isolation, to passing on unvetted information. We will say yes to strength, compassion, and community.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor E. Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, and Holocaust survivor.