Life is not as it is, but rather how we see it. How are you seeing your life right now? As we look around at the world, we tend to see all that is wrong as opposed to all that is right. Why is that? Perhaps it is because our view of the world — that which has been handed down from generation to generation — is based on a negative perspective.

Maybe it’s time to rethink our point-of-view so we can begin feeling better about the situations and people in our lives and in the world around us.  One of the greatest lessons I learned through my journey of self-discovery is that my perspective of the world is not my own. (Or at least it didn’t use to be). The way I saw the world around me, my perspective, had been inherited from conditioned beliefs that were passed along to me from parents, peers, siblings, elders, education, books and religion.

I came to realize that my experiences in life, seen through my conditioned beliefs, were what created my reality. The good news is as I began to change my outlook my reality began to shift.

Perspective can be defined as, “a mental view or outlook.” So, where did your mental view, of yourself and the world, come from? What external factors contributed to shaping your outlook?

I believe our perspective comes from our experiences, but many of us have not yet developed the “skill” required to establish our own, authentic perspective. The skill, to which I refer, is awareness. I believe most of us go through life not really conscious or aware of what is going on around us or inside of us.

What would your life be like if you woke up and began to make conscious choices? What would your life be like if you began to see the world through your own perspective?

The development of higher awareness can take time, but there is no reason why you can’t begin today, honing that much needed skill in order to create your own awareness. Awareness will allow you to start making choices and those choices will allow you to change your life.

When you look at something that you think is unpleasant or bad, take a moment to look deeper and ask yourself why that is your perspective. Allow your awareness to help you understand why you see things the way you do.

The world is now on the verge of yet another “crisis”, this one a health situation. We are still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis and now we face the possibility of an influenza epidemic. What is your perspective of this issue? Where has that perspective come from?

I know that in the past, my perspective would have been one of fear and worry. What happens if I contract this possibly deadly swine flu? Are my loved ones safe? Should I cancel travel plans?

Through many years of focusing on becoming aware of my thoughts — I have been able to change my outlook.  Today, I choose not to worry about swine flu because those thoughts only make me feel frightened, concerned and unwell. While there is still a potential that I could contact this virus, at least I will not be plagued with worry and fear waiting for something that may never happen.

I choose more optimistic and happy thoughts. I try to filter out the negative and fearful thoughts and replace them with thoughts of good fortune and abundance. In doing so my perspective shifts.

One of the most empowering concepts I have successfully integrated into my life is: “My thoughts are my choice.” True, I still catch negative and fearful thoughts sneaking up on me, but a keen sense of awareness has enabled me to stop them and let them go.

It is quite fascinating to take some time and watch the thoughts that come into your mind. These thoughts shape your perspective. If negative, gloomy thoughts fill your mind then no matter what lies ahead of you — a work assignment, an important meeting or a conversation with a loved-one — you’ll see it as impossible, difficult or terrifying. But, on the other hand, if your mind if full of positive thoughts, that task will appear welcome, doable and even fun!

The same task or the same world event can look and feel different, depending on the shape of your thoughts that day. I have discovered, however, that our thoughts are often affected by how we are feeling and how we are feeling is affected by our vibrational energy. Lower and slower vibrational energy will put forth more negative, fearful and worrying thoughts, while higher and faster energy will present happy, positive and optimistic thoughts. We do have the power to change our vibrational energy by using various shifting and opening techniques that will allow us to alter our thoughts and thus our perspective at any given time.

It is important to note that no one else has the exact same viewpoint as we do. That is because our point-of-view comes from our experiences in life, and no one has had the exact same experiences as we have.

We have experienced so many disagreements (and wars) in our world over the years, because we simply don’t comprehend how perspective comes about. We argue with others assuming they see things the same way we do. Impossible. The sooner we realize that our perspectives are unique and others do not see things as we do, the sooner we will wake up to the fact that we will never truly convince anyone to see things our way.

You may win an argument or convince someone to go along with your point of view, but you will never get someone to see something completely from your perspective. We all have our own filters — our own lenses — through which we see the world.

Only when we figure out that everyone sees things from their own perspective will we be able to spend more time trying to understand other people’s perspectives and less time trying to convince them that their way is wrong.

Only then, will we move to a place of greater understanding and tolerance in our world.