Perspective…

Perspective, our own unique way of looking at things. When I call it unique it does mean that it cannot be influenced by the opinion of others. But the most important factors that create our perspectives are the experiences that we have had in our life, and the expectations we have.

It is our perspective about things, situations, and people, that makes us experience things in the way that best suits our mindset, or expectations. It is one of the greatest manipulators of our mind, that holds a space within us with our consent and then drives how we see our life as.

Today’s topic of perspective comes from a movie I recently watched on television. The movie is about a cricket player, who is shown to be fighting odds, to regain and reestablish his career in cricket. One of the very few scenes that made an impact on me was when the hero of the film, completes his knock and comes bac to the pavilion after a successful outing.

He saves his team the day and everyone except one of the head selectors, congratulates him on his success. The accolades were not only for his own personal knock, but also the fact that it saved his team from a loss and turned the result upside down.

To give a little background, the time he went to bat, his team was not in good shape and the need of the hour was to not loose further wickets and save the day surviving. And that was the message given by everyone to this player, while he left for the pitch. ‘Do not lose your wicket.’

The next 10 minutes of the movie was all about his flamboyant shot making and huge sixes and great boundaries, and thus making it a great display of exciting batting. It did not only save the day for his team, but also turned the match in their favor.

While everyone congratulated this hero batsman and said, ‘well played’, that head selector asked him, ’Do you think you played well?’ Your adventure put the whole team at risk. What did I tell you?’, and the hero batsman replied, Sir, you told do not lose your wicket.’ And there it was. The next thing that came out of the selector’s mouth was, ‘Well played.’

Just a movie scene. But tells us so much about perspective and how we look at life and thus create our experiences. The way I looked at it, I understood that the intention of both, the player as well as the selector was same. ‘Not to lose the wicket.’ But their perception about what will make that happen differed and thus created a different experience for both. The selector’s perception about not losing the wicket was to play defensive, while hero batsman’s natural game was to attack and thus his perspective was to play his natural game if he must not lose his wicket.

Nothing wrong with either. But what it created was a very different experience for two individuals while the match was being played. While one was enjoying his batting, playing attacking shots to retain his wicket, the other person was always tensed thinking that this was not the right way to preserve the wicket.

This was just a match, and that too in a movie. But in life also the exact happens for us. Or I should say, the exact is created by us for ourselves. It is a very different thing when the desires are different, but when the similarity of what is desired also creates a different experience, this can be totally avoided by being mindful.

A good way to do it to step out of the self-zone at times, and look at things, situations, and people from an independent third perspective. This practice enables us to give a chance to look at our own perception of things from an outsider’s view, and thus give it a chance to be molded for our best experience. 

It is true that even the third perspective, which is outside of us will have an impression of our self, and won’t be completely independent, but it still serves because it starts with an acknowledgement that our perspective is not the only perspective, and eventually it strengthens into a habit which is supported by our newer experiences which are much more joyous and fuller.

Stay happy!

Love to all!

RB