Changing one´s life by changing one´s perspective.

[duszek]

Is it possible to change one´s life thoroughly by changing one´s perspectives ?
What parameters should and could be changed ?
Can anyone report from personal experience ?

One trick could be that one imagines oneself to be someone different and performs accordingly.

For instance instead of getting emotional one imagine´s oneself to be a writer or journalist looking for authentic material. That way everything exciting is welcome and not a nuisance.

[duszek]

One could feel like a psychiatrist for one day and feel happy that most people behave in a more or less normal way.

Or one could feel like Forest Gump.

[Dalek Prime]

Yes. It's called cognitive therapy, and it's been around awhile.

[duszek]

What´s cognitive about this therapy ?

Are you an expert in this area, Dalek ?

[Dalek Prime]

What´s cognitive about this therapy ?

Are you an expert in this area, Dalek ?

Oh for fuck's sake, just Google the subject. It's a mainstream therapy.

[Lacewing]

Is it possible to change one´s life thoroughly by changing one´s perspectives ?

Seems that way to me!! (I like this topic.) I think we can, and do, hypnotize ourselves into all sorts of states/"realities". Two people can be in the exact same situation... and have vastly different experiences of it. Also, I've had experiences where I was having a difficult time with someone... and I shifted my perspective about the situation (and the person)... and they noticeably shifted in response to my shift!

So I do think there are many possibilities for how energy can be "arranged"... and our perspectives can enhance or restrict that arrangement in all sorts of ways. That's why, when people insist on how something "absolutely is"... I see that (for the most part) as how THEY are making/seeing it... which is not some definitive reflection of anything. In my experience, the possibilities are WIDE OPEN, and only limited by our incapability to see more.

One trick could be that one imagines oneself to be someone different and performs accordingly.

Yes! One of my closest friends is very strong and direct (almost shockingly so at times) -- and there have been times when I've been in a challenging situation, and I'll think "what would she do?" Then I'll "channel her" (imitate her) so-to-speak, without exhibiting any hesitation. It works! And I don't feel self-conscious about such behavior (as I might in my own skin) because I'm focused on "being her". Imagine my joy to discover that she "channels me" too when she needs to deal with a situation that requires my particular "approach".

So I think we can BE many things... and VIEW from many angles... and THAT determines a great deal of our experience. This is not all simply happening to us. We're making up (and uniquely interpreting) a great deal of it. Might as well be aware of that as much as possible, and discover more effective ways we can do it.

[The Inglorious One]

From The Book of Not Knowing, by Peter Ralston:

It’s true that beliefs are very powerful. It’s not a new idea that to change anything about ourselves, we must change the beliefs from which our emotions and behavior are created. Several popular self-help trainings involve consciously exchanging one set of beliefs for another. For example, a person who lacks faith in himself might try to override his negative self-image by deliberately formulating a belief that he is intelligent and capable. If he can maintain this new perspective, he will begin to interpret events differently, and his more positive interpretations will support an increasingly positive view of himself. Although this kind of work can have a positive effect, it does nothing to increase our understanding of the real nature of mind or the self.

[Lacewing]

Although this kind of work can have a positive effect, it does nothing to increase our understanding of the real nature of mind or the self.

Just like ANYTHING we do! Anything we do can be (and often is) like going through the MOTIONS -- not understanding or seeing more broadly.

It seems that we are like computers, in that our old clunky "programming" must be written over with new and more efficient programming continually. Since programming can be buried so deeply, it may take persistent repetition and genuine intent to "upgrade" the deeper levels of the old. It doesn't have to be hard. Repetition, compassion, and an open heart and mind can do wonders! It's about what you really want regardless of what anyone else is thinking or doing. Do you really want to "see" beyond wherever you think you are, or do you want to think you already "know"?

I don't think there is a particular idea or belief or method to becoming more aware. It seems that we have to deal with our mechanical nature... and that might require some mechanical steps. It's not the process we use, but our true intent. If that intent is persistent and clear, we can become much more aware of ourselves and all else through our process. Our processes can then become less clunky and mechanical, and perhaps more free-flowing and "out of our hands" because of increased levels of greater and stronger connectivity. In my experience, getting ourselves "out of the way" is the biggest task.

[HexHammer]

Is it possible to change one´s life thoroughly by changing one´s perspectives ?
What parameters should and could be changed ?
Can anyone report from personal experience ?

One trick could be that one imagines oneself to be someone different and performs accordingly.

For instance instead of getting emotional one imagine´s oneself to be a writer or journalist looking for authentic material. That way everything exciting is welcome and not a nuisance.

Great warriors through history has become monks, peaceful and hamonious, woved never to kill again, also the opposite.

[The Inglorious One]

I don't think there is a particular idea or belief or method to becoming more aware.

There are thousands of years of teachings that say otherwise.

[duszek]

Thank you for your input Lacewing.

I am not sure if chanelling can always work.
When a colleague talks to me like a supervisor in a penitentiary I cannot possibly do the same without starting a fight with her.
I don´t even have any experience with such a tone of the voice. I would need to practice a lot at home before.

My strategy so far: I imagine myself to be a nurse in a psychiatric clinic and I just ignore the inappropriate tone of the voice.

[duszek]

I don't think there is a particular idea or belief or method to becoming more aware.

There are thousands of years of teachings that say otherwise.

We become more aware every second of our lives, don´t we ?
Because our life experience accumulates.
This is one of the advantages of growing older.

[Dalek Prime]

I don't think there is a particular idea or belief or method to becoming more aware.

There are thousands of years of teachings that say otherwise.

We become more aware every second of our lives, don´t we ?
Because our life experience accumulates.
This is one of the advantages of growing older.

I don't think we become more aware at all as we age. We rely more on the mental model of the world we have built up over the years, and only become more aware when something unusual, outside the model, comes along, that requires focus and attention. Younger people require more awareness, as they are still running into situations they haven't experienced, and are still adding to to their mental model; filling in the gaps, so to speak. And if you consider it, it's why younger people are also more flexible in their thinking than older; their mental model of the world is still in flux, whilst the older person's is more set.

[Lacewing]

Thank you for your input Lacewing.

I am not sure if chanelling can always work.
When a colleague talks to me like a supervisor in a penitentiary I cannot possibly do the same without starting a fight with her.
I don´t even have any experience with such a tone of the voice. I would need to practice a lot at home before.

My strategy so far: I imagine myself to be a nurse in a psychiatric clinic and I just ignore the inappropriate tone of the voice.

Duszek, I think you're doing exactly the right thing! I wasn't suggesting that you imitate the behavior of the person you're in conflict with. Rather, you identify some alternative approach (as you are doing) that is more effective for the circumstances than your typical approach might be.

We become more aware every second of our lives, don´t we ?

I don't think we become more aware at all as we age. We rely more on the mental model of the world we have built up over the years, and only become more aware when something unusual, outside the model, comes along, that requires focus and attention.

So apparently this is your experience, dalek -- and I can see that it is the experience of a lot of people. But it is not the only experience people can have. As I've aged, most mental models of the world have evaporated and NOT been built upon further, leaving me freer to become aware of new things (as long as I don't start building up something else). For me, much is outside of built-up models because I (personally) have come to think they can be limiting and hypnotizing. And this could have something to do with me having a past that made no sense and that I did not want to build on for the most part. And I'm not alone in having this experience. I think it's driven by one's personal desire to build on what one thinks one knows... or to drop that and explore beyond (perhaps even continually). My impression is that there is always an endless amount for us to become more aware of, and we can more so if we aren't focused on maintaining other stuff.

[duszek]

When we make new friends and know new people we get a chance to try out new personality types. We can try to be more outgoing or less opinionated or we can simply tell the new people other aspects of ourselves. So they will get a different image of ourselves than the people who have known us so far and they can react accordingly.

And all this without cheating and lying of course.
A human personality and soul are so complex that we always have to make a choice of what we focus on.