Why A Little Perspective Shift Goes a Long Way

How can you intentionally switch gears and pump the brakes when you feel yourself mentally spiraling downward?

It’s a matter of building resiliency. 

This came up for me recently when I was having a “bad day”. The day wasn’t actually bad. It just wasn’t going the way I’d planned, and I was growing increasingly frustrated and discouraged. 

I had a session with my coach already planned for that afternoon. The timing was fortuitous. As we honed in on the session focus, I was able to express what was coming up for me ~ the uncomfortable negative emotions about learning curve hurdles which I was projecting into grandiose productivity shortcomings. 

After some probing questions helped me dig underneath my temporary feelings of frustration and discouragement, I was able to set some realistic short-term goals for myself. 

At the end of the session, my coach summarized, “Perspective shift is the most beautiful gift you can give yourself,” and I wrote it down. 

I left that coaching session with the same, seemingly overwhelming, number of unfinished tasks as when I started. But I wasn’t suffocating under the weight of it all. I could breathe.

Modern neuroscience validates the power of positive thoughts, or even different thoughts, to interrupt the automaticity of negative thinking. When you are able to short-circuit the downward spiral of gloom and doom by redirecting your attention to something positive, you allow your brain to activate different circuits and shift your view. The practice of refocusing your attention, and eventually reframing your experience strengthens your brain’s capacity for response flexibility and thus build resiliency.

This week, if you feel negative thoughts taking over, I invite you to give yourself the gift of shifting your perspective. If you have a perspective shifting tactic to share with others, please do so in the comments below.