The World’s Greatest Lie
And the Path to Freedom
By Kendel J. Christensen
Part VIII of VIII
4. Am I taking the most helpful perspective?
The final thought I leave with you, in your quest to achieve your full potential in life, become more happy, and become the captain of your soul, is simply to be aware of your perspective. As we have gone over, there is a near-limitless amount of knowledge in the world in hundreds of different disciplines from Astronomy to Zoology.
That is a lot of untapped applicable knowledge. But it bears repeating: within the vastness of all that you don’t know, there is likely a lot that you can do if you did know—and a persistently wide gap between the two. Realizing that makes you humble. Instead of throwing up your hand, concluding, “there is nothing to be done!” You realize there is very likely something that can be done. It makes you aware that there is another way to see things that you are currently blind to. It makes you open to reassessing even the most fundamental things you know and do. [1] This insight is the secret to innovation, and is often the only critical difference as to why some companies stay on top, while others stagnate.
That realization should drive you to seek to take as many perspectives as possible.
And when you don’t find a perspective that solves the problem, there is still something you can always do. And that is to see your situation from the perspective of thankfulness.
For instance, let’s say you hate your job. It really is mindless and unfulfilling. Imagine you are someone who has been out of work for a year and a half and is starting to lose their self-respect. How would you feel about your job then, if you were that person? Take it a step further. How would you feel about your job, compared to being one of the slaves that worked on the pyramids?
Realize your perspective. The most helpful perspective—after exhausting the perspectives that lead you to reasonable action—is one of gratitude. You tried. You gave it your all, and things didn’t turn out as you hoped. It happens to the best, even if you are on the Path to Freedom (that is why it is a path, not a destination). Situations are persistently far from the ideal. Not everyone can be the best.[2] But you can choose to view your situation with one of thanksgiving.
The human mind can only focus on so much at one moment. Instead of complaining, why not focus on something to be thankful for?[3] In the words of Melody Beattie:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
So here is to a different vision for tomorrow. One in which you renounce the universal lie of victimhood. One in which you choose to be the master of your destiny, the “captain of your soul.”
I promise you can reach entirely new levels of satisfaction in your life if you do so.
Committed to your success,
Kendel
[1] For example, I was working on one of my life goals and wasn’t making much progress until I learned that the ways I breathed and walked were incorrect! You can’t get much more fundamental than that!
[2] Though again, I maintain that everyone on earth can be exceptional.
[3] I realize that this could be misunderstood into accepting true injustices—but I am merely saying what % of our thoughts should be on—at the same time I say that our thoughts should be more grateful, I advocate that we establish action plans to tackle the things that really ought to be changed.
RSS Feed
