Quotes About Perspective

The truth is, we don't know what's going to happen—we just think we do. Often we make a big deal out of something. We blow up scenarios in our minds about all the terrible things that are going to happen. Most of the time we are wrong. If we keep our cool and stay open to possibilities, we can be reasonably certain that, eventually, all will be well. Remember: maybe so, maybe not.

Seeking first to understand isn't about who's right or wrong; it is a philosophy of effective communication.

We form opinions and then spend our entire lifetimes validating what we believe to be true.

So many people spend so much of their life energy 'sweating the small stuff' that they completely lose touch with the magic and beauty of life.

Ask yourself this question: 'Will this matter a year from now?

We take our own goals so seriously that we forget to have fun along the way, and we forget to cut ourselves some slack.

In a low state of mind, everything seems really bad and worse than it probably is.

If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy.

Most of us spend too much time wishing that people would be other than they are.

Each of us places varying degrees of significance on what's really relevant and important, and we can almost always find fault with the way someone else is thinking or behaving. We can usually validate our own versions of reality by focusing on examples that, we believe, prove us to be right. In short, the way we see life will always seem justified, logical, and correct—to ourselves. The problem is, everyone else has the same assumption.

Benjamin Franklin said it best: "Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas, they become our difficulties.

Without getting too psychoanalytical about it, the reason we are tempted to put others down, correct them, or show them how we're right and they're wrong is that our ego mistakenly believes that if we point out how someone else is wrong, we must be right, and therefore we will feel better.

I find that if I remind myself (frequently) that the purpose of life isn't to get it all done but to enjoy each step along the way and live a life filled with love, it's far easier for me to control my obsession with completing my list of things to do.

I find that if I remind myself (frequently) that the purpose of life isn't to get it all done

We take simple preferences and turn them into conditions for our own happiness.

One of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself is, "Do I want to be 'right'—or do I want to be happy?" Many times, the two are mutually exclusive!

The sooner we accept the inevitable dilemma of not being able to win the approval of everyone we meet, the easier our lives will become.

He chuckles at all the people he knows who have taken out bank loans to travel to exotic places like Europe but who have never seen a single state park right here near home.

If you can begin to see that your thoughts are not the real thing – they're just thoughts, and as thoughts they can't hurt you – your entire life will begin to change today. I have witnessed many times this very same realization transform someone from a life of fear and depression into a life of happiness.

One of my favorite posters says, "Life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been a real life you would have been instructed where to go and what to do." Whenever I think of this humorous bit of wisdom, it reminds me to not take my life so seriously.

You don't need to change your core beliefs or your deepest held positions. All you're doing is expanding your mind and opening your heart to new ideas.

In low moods we lose our perspective and everything seems urgent.

Most people have it backward. When they are feeling down, they roll up their sleeves and get to work. They take their low moods very seriously and try to figure out and analyze what's wrong. They try to force themselves out of their low state, which tends to compound the problem rather than solve it.

The fact that we can't see the beauty in something doesn't suggest that it's not there. Rather, it suggests that were are not looking carefully enough or with a broad enough perspective to see it.