"What can you do with a person who says that he is absolutely uncertain about everything, and that he is absolutely certain about that?" — Idries ShahOur perspective is how we perceive people, situations, ideas, etc. It's informed by our personal experience, which makes it as unique as anything could be. Perspective shapes our life by affecting our choices. But the minute our minds become steeped in worry, perspective goes out of the window. We forget about our triumphs. We stop being optimistic as fear takes the wheel.
Fear gives rise to negative feelings: insecure, critical, defensive, abandoned, desperate, lonely, resentful, overwhelmed, aggressive, and so on. These cloud our minds and consume our thoughts.
When we lose perspective, our operational wisdom is gone. We might as well be little children. Everything we know about coping, adapting, and resilience are lost. Small things appear to be much larger and more dire. Stress mounts.
Everything we've accomplished in life, the lessons we've learned, the hard times we've overcome and the ways in which we've grown are discounted when perspective is lost. We see it happen around us every day, but we rarely label it properly.
The driver, consumed with road rage, who pulled into the turning lane just to go around us, has lost perspective. Everyone else is stuck in the same traffic and doing something dangerous is only going to save him a few seconds in travel time.
The neighbor, who gripes about the bush on our property line leaves us a nasty voicemail about leaves in her driveway, has lost perspective. In the grand scheme of things, the five-foot shrub is no threat.
When we're the receiver of this aggressive resentment, it's pretty obvious that it's an overreaction. We were in the middle of thinking about the surgery our elderly father is having next week, then we were side-swiped by their discontent. But we're guilty of this kind of behavior too, whether we take it out on or people or on ourselves.
- We allow ourselves to be overtaken with worry and soon we're almost certain that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. We only see what's troubling us and nothing that isn't.
- We become set on a certain outcome: If I just lost the weight... If I could just save more money... If I just had a nicer car... And we are cruel to ourselves when we don't make it happen.
- We take things personally and allow insecurity to undermine self-esteem.
- We back ourselves into a corner and forget the bigger picture. We're so obsessed with our next project, our next assignment, our next big challenge, that we forget to appreciate all that we've already accomplished and to show gratitude for what we already love. We forget the right now.
According to the 'experts', any 'reaction' which fails to recognize their expertise and therefore threatens the highly regarded, man-made paper and plastic (bureaucratic and political) status quo is an over-reaction. This over-reaction must be guarded against, constantly. One of the routine means of stopping over-reaction is of course, censorship of the public and their various attempts at outcry.
Experts are very dependent upon your agreement with (complete submission to) them, to maintain their comfortable (and comforting) salaries and their authoritative positions in the various departments of knowledge at the various centralized think tanks. So that when they actually do work, do something physical and basic, it is only for their OWN pleasure and health, NOT FOR YOURS, and not part of an ongoing intense and exhausting soul killing struggle for bare bones survival, as is the case with the rest of us.
There is, at present, a very sharp dividing line between slaves and slave keepers and it is called 'expertise'.
Now, 'Shhhhhhhh'! Don't say anything more about this and continue to rely upon and place your agreements with these 'experts'. Put your life in their hands, so that they can continue to live and prosper. Read their many monographs and spiels and speeches, always submit to their superior knowledge and superior training, buy their many books and publications and don't ever over-react!
Oh, and yes: GET BACK TO WORK, NOW.
OR YOU WILL BE FIRED.
ned, out