Are you someone who is going through problems, challenges, and circumstances in life? Or perhaps someone in a hopeless and dire situation that just seems impossible to get out of?
I've been there.
"Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it." — Irving Berlin
While we're alive on this earth, no one is exempt from problems, challenges, and circumstances. Everyone goes through their own fair share of battles everyday and it's something we all experience in one way or another. But with the right perspective, you have the power to turn problems into possibilities, challenges into opportunities, and circumstances into breakthroughs. Conversely, with the wrong perspective, you can either remain in the same position you are in or in an even worse position than you were from. Perspective matters. Your outlook in life—your attitude, your perception, your mindset, and your perspective on how you see life as it is and your understanding of the world around you—will shape your reality. And here's why...
How Does Our Outlook Shape Our Reality?
Perspective matters. Discover how your outlook in life can shape and transform your reality.
#1 Your Outlook Affects Your Perception.
As defined, your outlook is your general attitude, view, or perspective towards life. It's a lens through which you see life as it is and understand the world around you. On the other hand, your perception is how you perceive things to be or how you make sense of things, your awareness or consciousness of things and how you interpret them as they are by means of your mental faculties and physical senses. Simply put, your outlook is how you see life and your perception is how you see things in life. Your outlook, how you see life itself, affects your perception of the things in life. And what we perceive things to be eventually becomes our reality. Two people can experience crisis the same way but lead different lives. One can have an optimistic or positive outlook in life that allows that person to perceive things from a positive light, for instance, seeing crisis as an opportunity for growth, self-development, and learning, which becomes their reality. On the contrary, the other can have a pessimistic or negative outlook in life, perceiving things from a negative light, and sees crisis as a threat or an insurmountable obstacle, which also becomes their reality.
Growing up as a shy and anxious kid, to a realist and still overly anxious young adult, I used to overthink of the worst of things all the time. I've always thought to myself that when bad things happen, it's best to not get my hopes up and just anticipate the worst, wallow in worry and anxiety, thinking it would fix or help my situation. I've always had a negative outlook in life, seeing life as unfair and difficult, and where I was in life, I felt hopeless, inadequate, and a failure. I've gone through failure after failure, allowing it to define me as such, and therefore it became my reality. I woke up day after day defeated, feeling like failure, and anticipating the worst in everything I do. And when things get rough, I perceive things to fail because of the outlook that I had. Rather than finding solutions, I focus on the problem, and instead of proactively doing something about my situation, I worry, become overly anxious, and end up in a worse situation that I was from.
Along the way, I realized that worrying and being overly anxious of the things that happen in our lives doesn't help in any way, rather, it just makes things worse than it already is. Most importantly, our outlook and perspective matters in life because it affects our perception of things in life or things that happen in our life, which ultimately shapes our reality. See life in a positive light that even when you go through tough times in life, you can perceive them as possibilities, opportunities, or avenues for growth and breakthroughs rather than threats, insurmountable obstacles, and impossibilities.
"It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see." — Henry David Thoreau
#2 Your Outlook Influences Your Actions.
Your outlook in life influences the actions that you take towards what you see, think, and understand. For instance, a person with a positive outlook in life, seeing life full of opportunities and possibilities, will likely engage in proactive actions and behaviors that lead to growth and personal development influenced by what that person sees, think, and understand life to be—that perhaps there is more to life than staying in our comfort zone or that there is immense potential in each of us that's yet to be unleashed for our purpose in life—which becomes the reality for that person. In contrast, a person with a negative outlook may see life as full of risks and threats that might ultimately lead to failure, which produces actions or behaviors that are more inclined to that outlook, leading to a life that is not fruitful, confined to comfort zones that don't accommodate growth, and eventually where failure becomes a reality.
The moment I understood how important outlook and perspective is in life, and navigating through life with a positive outlook, I started to see problems as an avenue for more possibilities, challenges as opportunities for growth and learning, and circumstances as a step for breakthroughs. I started to use my words to speak life, declaring what I want to see rather than the situation I'm seeing—expecting success and positive outcomes. I started to see my life with immense potential to make a difference and with a God-given gift and purpose to fulfill while I'm alive on earth. And because of that shift in my perspective, I began to dissociate myself from the failures I experienced in life and see those failures as a part of my growth towards who I can become. I began to shift my focus towards my goals rather than the problems I encounter along the way and proactively taking steps to provide solutions, rather than merely reacting with worry and anxiety. These actions and behaviors are influenced by my outlook in life and thereby shaping my reality.
What's your outlook in life? It will be evident in your perception of things as well as the actions you take towards how you see, think, and understand things to be, and that shapes your reality.
“Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.” — Thomas L. Holdcroft
#3 Your Outlook Determines the Outcome.
Let me tell you a story about two brothers raised by an alcoholic father.
One brother grew up to be an alcoholic. When asked what happened, he said,
"I watched my father."
The other brother grew up and never drunk once, and when asked why, he said,
"I watched my father."
Your perspective matters for it will determine your future. You cannot control your circumstance, but you can control the way you respond. You cannot change your situation, but you can change the outcome. If you desire positive results, favorable outcomes, and promising success, you must have the right perspective and positive outlook to believe it and see it come to pass in your life. Often times, it's hard to desire for positive results when you are faced with a negative situation. People with a negative outlook, that is faced with a negative situation, will likely perceive it from a negative light, producing negative and passive actions, and ultimately reaping negative results. On the brighter side, people with a positive outlook, that is faced with a negative situation, will likely perceive it from a positive light, producing positive and proactive actions, reaping positive results. See the difference?
Take it from me. I have been on both ends of the spectrum, and there's so much I regret doing and so much regret not being able to do because of the negative outlook I had in life. I always saw the worst in things, always had something negative to say, and always perceived things in life from a negative perspective, which hindered my growth and produced actions and behaviors influenced by what I saw, believed, thought and understood life to be—life of failures, risks, threats, unproductiveness and unfruitfulness. That used to be my reality, which led to negative results and outcomes in certain situations in my life. But shifting my perspective in life drastically changed how I perceived things and situations that happen in my life. I slowly realized that the light at the end of the tunnel is a real thing and that there was always a brighter side. I realized that it was possible to see the good in the bad, that experiencing failure doesn't make you a failure, and that setbacks are a part of your success story. This produced actions and behaviors in my life that led to positive results and outcomes.
You may experience crisis in your life, but the outcome is dependent on your outlook and perspective. You can either see crisis as an opportunity and emerge with success or see crisis as a threat and fall into failure. You may experience pressures and breaking in your life, but either you see it a steppingstone to your breakthrough or see it as a breakdown leading to potential failure. The outcome is determined by your outlook, and this shapes your reality.
“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” — John Wooden
Your outlook shapes your reality. How you see life affects how you perceive things in life, influences the actions you take towards how you see, think, believe, and understand life to be, and determines the outcome of your life. What do you want your reality to be? Believe it and see it. Have a positive and proactive outlook—perspective, attitude, mindset, and view—of life and allow it to shape your reality.
May this blog post enlighten us to shift our perspective in life and have a positive outlook in all things as we perceive things from a positive light, produce positive actions and behaviors, and lead to a life with positive results and outcomes. Do share your heart and thoughts in the comments. See you on the next blog post!
Sending love,
Coleene.
Read the previous blog post: The Power of Gratitude: Benefits of Being A Grateful Person
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